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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24982036">Emotionally Available</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/transfiguredtoad/pseuds/transfiguredtoad'>transfiguredtoad</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Timeless (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:00:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>49,566</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24982036</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/transfiguredtoad/pseuds/transfiguredtoad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Wyatt and Jessica Logan divorced six years ago. When Wyatt meets Lucy Preston, he is available in all senses of the word. </p><p>A retelling of the events of Season One, if Wyatt had been emotionally available.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Wyatt Logan/Lucy Preston</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>88</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Pilot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy sank down into the chair, finding it more comfortable than it looked. Of course, if the man in the chair diagonal to her could sleep - or rest - it had to be comfortable. She swallowed, glancing around her. The man was probably average height, with dark hair and casual clothing. She looked away, taking in the slanted tiles on the wall, making what seemed to be a waiting room look like something out of a science fiction movie or a prison.</p><p>She pursed her lips and then made up her mind. It would be helpful to have the facts. The facts grounded a situation. The more facts, the more secure she was. And the mystery in the room was the man. Facts on the man would ground her. “Are you asleep?” she whispered. </p><p>“No, ma’am,” he replied quickly, his eyes remaining closed.</p><p>“Oh, okay,” she said, surprised, settling back into her chair. He had looked asleep. She also hadn’t been called ma’am in a while. There were always a few students, each year, who started that, out of respect, but she shot them down quickly. Professor or Miss were far better and did not make her feel so old. Lucy swallowed and surveyed her surroundings again.</p><p>Mason Industries, the sign on the wall read. “This is Connor Mason’s company?” A big name, one that most of the world knew. Cars, technology, something else too. Something else that had drawn them there. “Do you know why we’re here?”</p><p>“No idea, ma’am,” he replied just as quickly. Lucy drew her lips into a line.</p><p>“You know, we’re pretty much the same age so you can just stop calling me ma’am,” she said, cocking her head to the side slightly. He opened his eyes slowly. They were blue, a bright blue, and reserved. He looked at her intensely and then half of his mouth turned upwards in a smile. Lucy flicked her eyes up and down him in return.</p><p>“Lucy Preston,” came from the door before she could continue her fact-finding mission. A professionally-dressed woman strode in, confident in her walk. “I’m Agent Christopher, Homeland Security. You’ve got a hell of a reputation. History, anthropology, you’re world-class.” Lucy gave a tight-lipped smile. She shook her head slightly.</p><p>“I’m just a teacher. My mother is world-class.”</p><p>“I’ve read all of her books,” Agent Christopher said. “I’m sorry to hear she’s sick.” Lucy felt that comment in the pit of her stomach. She sank back down into the chair. The Homeland Security agent turned to the man with the blue eyes. “And Master Sergeant Wyatt Logan. Delta Force?” Lucy raised her brows.</p><p>“Yes, ma’am,” Wyatt Logan replied. Lucy stood again, her lips parted.</p><p>“Boy, speaking of reputations,” Agent Christopher commented. Logan opened his mouth, expelling air as if to speak. There was a crease in his brow that suggested that he, like Lucy, wanted to dispute his own reputation. “Well, we are on the clock,” Agent Christopher continued before he could, “so follow me, but -” she paused for a second “- hold onto your asses.”</p><p>With that ominous statement, Logan followed the agent, leaving Lucy to blink, grapple for her bag and follow them. </p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt followed Agent Christopher into a large room, filled with equipment and scientists, lots of noise and flashing lights. He allowed himself half a smile when he heard the teacher struggling behind him. She was something.</p><p>“Garcia Flynn,” Agent Christopher introduced when she had got them to the computer which displayed his target’s face. “Ex-NSA asset in Eastern Europe.”</p><p>“Ex since when?” Wyatt questioned.</p><p>“Ex since he killed his wife and child and went off the grid. That was a year ago. We thought he was holed up in Chechnya but apparently not.”</p><p>Wyatt cocked a brow at the video on the screen of Flynn entering a large white capsule. “Why’s he taking the Star Tours ride?” </p><p>And then the capsule disappeared.</p><p>Wyatt blinked. He saw the teacher draw in closer too. “What the hell was that?” she demanded. </p><p>“Some sort of special effect?” Wyatt added.</p><p>“Ever heard of a closed time-like curve?” a British voice from the other side of the room interrupted them. Wyatt looked up and found Connor Mason - the Connor Mason - there. </p><p>“You’re Connor Mason,” Wyatt said, standing. “My buddy has one of your cars!”</p><p>“E-excuse me, a closed time-like what?” the teacher cut him off. Mason got some paper and explained but it all went over Wyatt’s head. Even the teacher seemed not to understand. Agent Christopher certainly didn’t.</p><p>“What he means is,” Agent Christopher cut in, “Mister Mason invented a time machine and chose not to tell the government about it until terrorists broke in and stole it.”</p><p>“Oh, yes, because the Federal Government never screws up anything and can always keep a secret,” Mason commented sardonically, scratching his temple. </p><p>“You’re asking for our help now,” Agent Christopher commented. Mason had the decency to look slightly abashed. Wyatt shook his head, holding his hand out.</p><p>“Wait, wait, hold on, this- this is a joke,” he said, gesturing wildly to the room. “Right, I mean, some- some psych test the government came up with?” He glanced at Lucy for support.</p><p>“I mean, this can’t be possible, right?” she said.</p><p>“Well, that’s what they said about the moon shot,” Mason said smugly, “til someone with enough imagination made it very possible.” Mason looked down at the room they had walked through, with the lights and the beeps. Wyatt let out a breath.</p><p>They were led down to what Mason called their “earliest prototype” - of a time machine - a great big circular thing, different from what Flynn had disappeared into. It was grey and ugly, a film prop with odd circular rings running round it. It looked like an eye, or a camera, or something from Star Wars. Wyatt stepped closer.</p><p>“She isn’t fancy, but she works,” Mason commented from behind Wyatt. “Unfortunately, she can’t tell us exactly where the Mothership has gone but she can tell us when.”</p><p>Wyatt turned to find Mason sitting at a computer. “Naturally,” Wyatt commented. “Only tell us when. Time machine problems.” He turned back to the - the time machine. He was looking at a time machine.</p><p>Behind him, the teacher - Lucy - was talking about dates, about New Jersey, about Hindenburg. She was freaking out. Wyatt turned to hear Mason speak. “Lucy, if Flynn kills people in ‘37 who aren’t supposed to die, they don’t have the kids they were supposed to have; they don’t do the things they were supposed to do. History changes. Reality changes.”</p><p>“So, why would you be stupid enough to invent something so dangerous?” Lucy asked. Wyatt turned for the answer, brows raised.</p><p>“I didn’t count on this happening,” Mason said unsurely. </p><p>“Why would Flynn do it?” Lucy continued, her pitch high and her tone demanding.</p><p>“We don’t know,” Agent Christopher said, which drew Wyatt’s attention. He didn’t like not knowing. No motive and your target was wild. If he had a motive, it would be easier to find him, pin him down. “There’s room in there for three passengers,” the agent said.</p><p>“To do what?” Lucy asked, eyes flicking between Agent Christopher and Mason. “To go after him?”</p><p>“Why else would we bring you here?” Agent Christopher said.</p><p>The next time Wyatt saw Lucy, she had been calmed down after her storm off. It was an appropriate response, especially for a civilian. She’d been dressed, though she was complaining about it being inappropriate time-wise. Wyatt glanced down at his own outfit. They knew how to dress in the past.</p><p>“- and this blouse, they didn’t have this fabric back then,” she whittered on, “or underwired bras.”</p><p>Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Who is gonna see your bra?” he asked derisively, messing with his suit jacket as he walked past, towards the machine - the time machine. He was about to travel in time. He played with the hat in his hand. </p><p>“Don’t be noticed,” Agent Christopher said. “Don’t change anything.” Wyatt turned back to look at her, her concerned expression not at all relieving. He continued, up the steps and into the craft, where a man, probably Wyatt’s age, was already seated in the pilot’s position. There was hardly enough room for them to sit and Wyatt found himself pressed up against Lucy’s chest and then her arm and then finally they were sitting, awkwardly.</p><p>Lucy introduced herself and then the pilot - Rufus - and then Wyatt did and he was watching Lucy struggle with her seatbelt and she was claustrophobic and she commented on the alcohol on his breath - “stop calling me ma’am” - and then they were going. Travelling through time. He smiled.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“How do you do, sir?” Lucy rushed over, flicking one leg up as she leaned on the bar. Wyatt had said something stupid, something utterly modern, and Lucy realised how needed she was. “Um, we were just wondering if you've seen this man?”</p><p>The barkeep, wiping a glass, said, “Why’s he wearing pyjamas?” Lucy stifled a sigh.</p><p>“Just have you seen him,” she pressed. The barkeep gave them a funny look. </p><p>“Nah, I don’t think so,” he said. Lucy sighed.</p><p>“Look again, it’s important,” Wyatt said, uncaring of the man’s opinion. Lucy pursed her lips. </p><p>“Hey, what are you, deaf?” he snapped. “I said I haven’t seen him.”</p><p>And the barkeep left. “Yep,” Wyatt scoffed, leaning against the bar. “Jersey’s Jersey.” Lucy only looked at him and then around. There must be somebody else to ask. Bars were full of people, watching, seeing, drunk, too drunk to care who they were talking to. Lucy pushed away from the bar to see further. She nearly gasped aloud.</p><p>“That's Kate Drummond.” She shook her head. “Oh, right, of course she'd be here.”</p><p>“Who’s that?” Wyatt asked, his tone uninterested.</p><p>“She has a column in the Hearst papers. She covered the wars in Manchuria and Ethiopia,” Lucy supplied, watching her, watching history. She glanced at Wyatt, who was watching her funnily, like he’d seen something that confused him. She gave him a look and he shrugged in a cavalier way.</p><p>“Just reminds me of someone is all.”</p><p>“We should go over and talk to her,” Lucy suggested to Wyatt, who pushed away from the bar.</p><p>“Sure,” he said. They approached her. She was blonde and pretty and playing the pinball machine. Wyatt spoke to her first, introduced Lucy as his older sister, which stung, and spoke to her about her job and then about the Hindenburg. Lucy found herself more impressed with this encounter than the one with the barkeep, though, she supposed, it was easier to speak nicely to a pretty girl than to a rude barkeep. Briefly, Lucy wondered who Kate reminded Wyatt of.</p><p>She was more helpful about the picture of Flynn and about where he was - they had a lead to follow. </p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy got them onto the Hindenburg base more easily than Wyatt could have. She was more needed than Wyatt had thought. He’d never thought about things like greetings and clothes and cultural stuff when considering time travel. Without her, he really could have screwed up in that bar. And he was sure his excuse for being on the air field would not have been half so solid.</p><p>They split up, which Wyatt admittedly was not so pleased with, but they would warn him if they saw Flynn. He was fully aware that he was the only soldier on this mission and Rufus and Lucy were civilians.</p><p>Wyatt’s eyes roved madly around the airfield but the light wasn’t good and there were so many people and - there was Kate.</p><p>Kate Drummond was exactly the sort of woman Wyatt would have picked up at home. She was beautiful and funny - if only she didn’t look like Jessica. It had been a bit jarring, to see Jess there, when Wyatt hadn’t seen her in how long now? Five years? Six? But then she’d faded into this stranger and he’d seen past it and spoken with her.</p><p>And then Lucy had told him that she was going to die. Kate was going to die. History said that she died beneath the Hindenburg - but she was right there in front of him with the camera and Wyatt could stop it. She was right there.</p><p>But Agent Christopher had said that it would change history. He glanced at his watch. He had less than a minute. He swallowed. Changing history could be catastrophic. Mason had said that. But he had sworn to protect people, human beings, not history. How could he just watch her, knowing that he could save her? How could he watch this woman - especially this woman, who looked so much like Jess - die?</p><p>His job was to protect and he would do it.</p><p>He strode over to her, aware that it should be landing - why wasn’t it on fire? What was happening? He glanced at his watch. It was past time. Behind him, a reporter said, “And the Hindenburg comes into land.”</p><p>Wyatt stopped, Kate only a few paces away and very much alive. Flynn had saved her - along with the Hindenburg.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Jail in the 30s sucked. The lock was a piece of crap and old. He could open it with a hairpin, but Lucy, of course, did not have one. He sighed and sank down onto the bench, a space between him and Lucy. “How long until the Hindenburg leaves?” Wyatt asked.</p><p>She looked utterly defeated as she said, “Just before dawn, so pretty soon.”</p><p>Wyatt groaned. “Great, so we rot in here while all those people die.”</p><p>There was a beat of silence and then, “While Kate dies?” Wyatt closed his eyes and opened them again. “So, what is it about her?”</p><p>“Nothing,” Wyatt grunted.</p><p>Lucy shrugged. “Okay, so you're just one of those soldiers who ignores his orders to chase a pretty face?” Wyatt narrowed his eyes at her and then leaned his head back against the wall.</p><p>“Kate reminds me of my ex-wife.”</p><p>Lucy’s eyes widened. Wyatt didn’t like to think what was going on in her head - probably something akin to judgment, to thinking of how old he was and how he could possibly already be divorced, how he must have been married young, too young - and all of it was true of course. He and Jess had married too young and it was ridiculous that he was already divorced at 32 - and six years divorced, in fact. He’d been divorced at 26.</p><p>“I didn’t realise,” Lucy said, flicking her eyes to him and then back again to her lap. “How long ago did you divorce?”</p><p>“Six years ago.” Wyatt shrugged, hoping she wouldn’t press for details. “I just couldn’t - I still couldn’t let somebody who looks like her die. I loved Jessica once and-” He shook his head, trailing off. “I just couldn’t let her die.”</p><p>Lucy gave him a pitying look. At least it wasn’t judgmental. She stood and wandered over to the other side of their small cell. In the cell next door, Rufus looked utterly miserable. Wyatt flicked his eyes back to Lucy. She looked irritated, more than miserable, and- well, she looked quite good. Ill-appropriate as her outfit might have been, according to her, it suited her and -</p><p>Wyatt stilled. His eyes settled on her chest, his thoughts whirring. Lucy noticed and let out a small scoff, looking in the other direction. Wyatt grimaced. However much of a bossy know-it-all Lucy was, he didn’t want her thinking that he was a pervert. He stood and approached her from behind, pressing his mouth as close to her ear as possible without intensifying that opinion of him.</p><p>“I know how to get out.”</p><p>There were a few women who Wyatt had seen naked within hours of meeting them and now Lucy Preston had joined them. He had not had the intention of looking at her but he’d averted his gaze while she’d taken her top off and suddenly had not been able to control where his eyes had roamed, across the creamy expanse of her back and the curve of her breasts. She’d caught him at it too, so he had ducked his head.</p><p>And, then, seconds later, to make matters worse, he’d had her bra in his mouth, ripping it open with his teeth and catching a glimpse of her breasts when he threw it back and - worse - catching a glimpse of the way she regarded him, impressed by his actions, her eyes glinting with something he couldn’t name.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Hey,” Lucy said, approaching him from behind in the locker room after they had returned to 2016. Wyatt looked up. She was back in her normal clothes, her hair loose. “So, when you shot Flynn, a couple inches to the right, you would have blown my brains out. Are you just that good or was I just that expendable?”</p><p>Wyatt looked up at her, amused. The shot he’d made at Flynn had been a close one, admittedly, and he supposed that it hadn’t been quite clean, but he had a steady hand and he trusted himself. He met her eyes. “Well, I guess I’m just that good, ma’am.” Her eyes flashed. Wyatt smirked. She ducked her head. “How did you get here?”</p><p>“Oh, they sent a car.”</p><p>Wyatt smiled. “Let me make up for almost shooting you by giving you a lift home, professor.”</p><p>Lucy nodded, meeting his eyes. “Okay.”</p><p>“So, I guess today must have been a bit of a dream for a history professor,” Wyatt said, opening the door out of the locker room for her. Lucy chuckled, a bit frenzied.</p><p>“I’m not sure about that. I - My mom would have loved it.”</p><p>Wyatt gave her a sympathetic look. “You said she’s sick?”</p><p>Lucy nodded. “She’s been sick for a long time. My sister is with her during the day, while I work. My mom is my inspiration. She taught at Stanford. She built the history department there. She always wanted me to be like her.”</p><p>Wyatt smiled as warmly as he could at her. “And your sister? Is she a professor too?”</p><p>Lucy snorted, an unladylike noise that made Wyatt smile. “No, Amy has a podcast. She doesn’t know what she wants to do.” Wyatt had never had any siblings but, if he had, he’d have hoped that his sibling spoke about him in the way Lucy spoke about her sister. They approached the door out of Mason Industries, inclining their heads at the guards as they left.</p><p>“And your dad?” Wyatt asked.</p><p>Lucy shook her head. “He died a long time ago, when I was fifteen.”</p><p>“Shit, I’m sorry.” Lucy smiled at him. Fifteen - that was about the age that Wyatt was running away from his own father. Wyatt shook his head. “You wanna call your sister before we go, by the way?” he asked as he clicked his car unlocked. He watched Lucy check his car out appreciatively. Wyatt grinned. He loved this car.</p><p>Lucy shook her head. “No, I’ll see her in a little bit. I’d guess she’ll be asleep by now.”</p><p>Wyatt nodded and came around to her side of the car, opening the door for her. Lucy gave him an amused look and slid into the car. Wyatt closed the door behind her and then dashed around to his side of the car, enjoying the sound of the engine coming to life.</p><p>“You like cars?” Lucy asked, her tone sparkling with amusement. Wyatt grinned, revving the car as he drove off.</p><p>“You could say that.”</p><p>“You do seem to be having a bit of a love affair with it,” she commented.</p><p>“I spent a year choosing this car, very carefully.”</p><p>“You can keep the car at a military base?” Her tone was surprised. Wyatt shook his head.</p><p>“Nah, I don’t use it most of the year. Put your address into the sat nav, will you?” Lucy nodded and did so. It was near to Stanford University.</p><p>“Do you have a place here or do they put you up somewhere?”</p><p>Wyatt shook his head. “Yeah, I have an apartment. I moved to San Francisco after the divorce.”</p><p>“Oh, where did you live before?”</p><p>“San Diego.” Lucy laughed. Wyatt shot her a side-eyed glance and smirked at her. “I know. It sucks, which was why I moved. I think Jessica moved too.”</p><p>“Fair enough,” Lucy said, her lips twitching. They continued to chat idly about San Francisco and Lucy’s job and their time travel experience until the car beeped and informed them that they were outside Lucy’s house. The lights were on outside. It was a home - not like the empty apartment Wyatt was going home to. He swallowed.</p><p>“So, thank you,” Lucy said, clearing her throat. Wyatt watched her, amused. “You didn’t have to drive me home.”</p><p>Wyatt shrugged. “Nothing better to do. Nobody to go home to,” he said, meeting her eyes. Lucy kept the eye contact for a few seconds before pulling away.</p><p>“Well, still, it was kind and - it was nice to talk, I guess.” Wyatt smirked.</p><p>“It was nice to talk, ma’am.” Lucy shot him a glare, her brown eyes glinting, dark in this light. Wyatt forced his eyes away from her. She reached for the handle, to get out of the car. Wyatt’s hand snapped out and touched her wrist, before Wyatt had decided to do anything whatsoever. Both sets of eyes focussed on his hand, still on her arm.</p><p>“Lucy,” Wyatt said in low tones. She met his eyes again. The light above them, the car light in between their seats, above them, was the only light illuminating her, but it was enough to be able to read her face, to see the look in her eyes. They were kissing before Wyatt knew what he was doing, Lucy leaning over him, over the gearstick awkwardly. Wyatt patted her thigh to draw her over, on top of him.</p><p>“Wyatt,” she said in the burst of silence as she settled herself, a leg on either side of his lap. His pants were tight. It had been a long time - when had he last been with a woman? “This is a bad idea.”</p><p>“Mmhmm,” Wyatt agreed, covering her lips with his own again. Her lips were smooth and comfortable and infuriatingly not enough. His hand teased the small of her back, the fingers moving up and down frequently. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and Wyatt was reaching with his other hand for the lever to push the chair back, to give them more room, more room.</p><p>Her arms tightened around his neck and his grip on her back firmed and then he finally managed to maneuver the lever so that the chair leaned further back. Lucy pulled away, her eyes dancing with laughter. The car light faded away, as it did after a few minutes of non-action from the car. His eyes took a second to adapt. He could still see her. There was more light than he thought, lamp posts outside the car.</p><p>“Bit of an obvious move, Wyatt,” she said teasingly.</p><p>“I just know what I want,” he said seriously. Lucy blinked and paused and then nodded, cupping his cheek with her hand. She kissed him with an urgency that had Wyatt’s hands moving up the front of her shirt and she was shoving off her cardigan even whilst they kissed. He reached her bra and reached around to the back of her top to unhook it and let it slide down her body and then he could do what he had been thinking of since they had been in that prison cell.</p><p>She moaned into his mouth when he brushed his thumb across one nipple and then the other. He wanted to take her top off, to have her nipples in his mouth, but they were in a public place, outside her house. She probably knew the neighbours. He would protect her modesty and control himself.</p><p>“Trousers,” she moaned into his mouth. Wyatt pulled away, cocking a brow. “My trousers. Need take them off.” Wyatt nodded and then watched with aroused interest as she went high on her knees and undid the button at the front of her trousers, pushed them down over her arse and then shook them off each leg, a difficult operation. “I see the argument for skirts,” she said as she kissed him again. Wyatt laughed into her mouth, even as he - finally - got to touch her between her legs, first over her underwear and then under. She moaned into his mouth at his first touch. She was wet - she was wet - and Wyatt’s pants were straining.</p><p>“Wyatt,” she whimpered when he buried a finger inside her. Wyatt kissed her inexpertly while he concentrated on the movements of his finger - and then fingers - inside of her. Wyatt let out a grunt, freezing, as Lucy’s fingers brushed the button on his fly. She met his eyes and he nodded and she undid his buttons. His cock was straining for her by the time it was free - but Lucy’s knickers were still on - until they weren’t and he was inside of her and shouting his groan into a bite on her shoulder. She moaned. He licked her collarbone and she moaned louder.</p><p>Her neck was so tempting. He wanted to pretend he was still sixteen - when giving hickies was cool and desirable and could be done without thinking of consequences of having to work together, just as soon as Flynn took the Mothership out again. Instead, Wyatt drove his cock into her as well as he could from his position. Her eyes fluttered between open and closed, accompanied by moans and whimpers and soft murmuring. Wyatt’s hand found its way between them, making her cry out lightly. She buried her face into his neck and Wyatt wondered if it wouldn’t be him with a hickey come tomorrow and the thought made him move his hips faster - and she returned in kind.</p><p>“Wyatt,” she cried, her hips moving erratically. Wyatt smirked, working his fingers faster, his other hand gripping her hip. “Wyatt,” his name became a litany at her lips and - fuck - he was close - she was close - he could feel it and she was rocking and rocking and then she cried out his name, extended, keening, her back arched against him - and she was climaxing on him - and it was to that that view that Wyatt let himself go too, groaning her name into the skin between her neck and shoulder.</p><p>Panting, sweating, not talking but staring into each other’s eyes as the reality of the last few minutes - the last hour? Wyatt had no idea of how much time had passed - settled upon them, they almost missed the call incoming on Wyatt’s screen.</p><p>It was Agent Christopher.</p><p>Lucy’s eyes widened comically. Wyatt felt his do the same but he shook himself out of it. Lucy still on his lap, Wyatt answered the call. “Have you got Lucy back to her house yet?”</p><p>“Erm” - Wyatt cleared his throat, meeting Lucy’s eyes. - “Just. What’s happened?”</p><p>“Flynn. He’s jumped again. I need you both to come back here now.”</p><p>“Where’s he gone?” Wyatt asked then sighed, “When?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The silence wasn’t quite comfortable on the journey back to Mason. Lucy was all too aware that she had just fucked the man sitting next to her, that she needed to pee to stave off any UTIs and that she needed to make sure she took her pill in the morning.</p><p>Agent Christopher’s call had been like water thrown over them. Still on Wyatt’s lap, his cock softening inside of her, it had been a cruel reminder that this wasn’t right, that it was a bad idea and that they were potentially on the road to compromising themselves and the mission. Lucy had pulled herself off him and awkwardly redressed herself while he fiddled with his pants. He looked irritatingly calm and collected, no sign on him that they had just been fucking in his car, outside of Lucy’s home, whereas Lucy’s hair was all over the place, her cheeks were flushed and she was fairly certain that her panties were down on the floor with the pedals.</p><p>So, they listened to music and didn’t speak much on the way back to Mason. When they arrived, Wyatt turned to get out of the car immediately, ever the soldier, going to start the mission. Though Lucy understood the urgency, she grabbed his arm and made him stop. “Wyatt, this was-” She shook her head. “We should just forget about this.”</p><p>Something flashed in Wyatt’s eyes but he nodded. “Of course, ma’am.”</p><p>And, with that, he was out of the car and Lucy followed him, walking quite awkwardly. Jiya grabbed Lucy the second she arrived, with a huge dress. “Abraham Lincoln’s assassination,” she said with a shrug. Lucy swallowed and nodded, hurrying her step.</p><p>“I have to go to the bathroom,” Lucy said, almost apologetically. Jiya nodded hurriedly, pointing her to the nearest ladies’. Lucy dashed there and sat down and let out the breath she’d been holding. She covered her face with her hand and breathed deeply.</p><p>When she found Jiya again, she was in a more collected state of mind, as Wyatt had been as soon as he had finished fucking her, as though it had not affected him whatsoever. Lucy swallowed and concentrated on telling Jiya which part of her dress went where.</p><p>The corset was tight. Lucy found herself remembering all the horrible health effects that went with wearing corsets. Hopefully, these missions would stop soon, or would all take place later in time, so that she didn’t have to compromise her health for the sake of - for the sake of what? America? Connor Mason? History? She shook herself and made her way to the Lifeboat.</p><p>Rufus and Wyatt were already inside, in soldiers’ uniforms, far simpler than Lucy’s get up. She swung her skirts up with herself, ignoring the amused shock on Wyatt’s face. She sat down and tried to breathe normally. Looking up, she found Wyatt’s eyes on her. Dragging her own away, she found the seatbelt and tried to tug each component of it over her. Wyatt chuckled and then his hands were near her. Lucy flinched.</p><p>He helped with the seatbelt nimbly. The tightness of the straps against her did not help the feeling of not being able to breathe. The corset, the seatbelt, everything that had happened to her in the last few hours. She wanted to go home and lie with her head in Amy’s lap and maybe cry, maybe just breathe.</p><p>The worry must have shown on her face as she found Wyatt watching her, brow creased. Lucy allowed herself one second of eye contact before breaking it, pursing her lips and looking at Rufus.</p><p>“Off we go,” their pilot announced.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Their second mission and one of them was already down. Getting Wyatt to the hotel had been almost too easy. Despite the bullet in his gut, he was able to walk, especially with Rufus supporting him. Lucy had a feeling that it was not his first time being shot. The Irish bellhop let them into the room, made some comment calling Wyatt her brother - their cover story yet again - and left them to it.</p><p>Rufus was gone before long, to get supplies, and Lucy found herself staring at the red stain on Wyatt’s shirt. “Lucy,” he said hastily. “Help me get this off.” Lucy blinked. He was talking about his shirt. Lucy nodded dumbly, rushing over. She helped him take the thin shirt off, abandoning it on the floor beside them. Briefly, she remembered her panties on the driver’s side of his car and then she forgot as she stared at the hole in his stomach. The floor swayed. She stepped away and he lay down on the bed, his chest bare.</p><p>Lucy found herself glancing at him and flushed the moment she realised that he noticed. “You really checking me out while I’ve got a bullet in my gut?” he said, through gritted teeth yet so casually that Lucy thought, yet again, that he hadn’t been affected by their actions in his car. He glanced down at his shot wound. “This would take 15 minutes to patch at home. Here? I’m gonna get sepsis.” Lucy swallowed.</p><p>Rufus arrived back moments later and he was set to work putting Wyatt back together. Lucy was immensely grateful that that wasn’t her job. She was affected by blood and fainting usually, never mind today when everything felt so crazy. “So those weapons Flynn has,” Wyatt started, as though he did not have a bullet in his stomach. “Why does he need that kind of firepower, huh? Lincoln gets killed anyway.”</p><p>Lucy shook her head, biting her thumb as she remembered why they were here, the more pressing matter of Flynn. Looking at Wyatt, losing blood, made her forget about all of the time machine, terrorism nonsense. “I don't think it's just about Lincoln,” she said. Wyatt raised his brows. Rufus glanced over from where he was sterilising the knife over the lamp. “Lincoln's death was part of a much larger conspiracy to kill the four most powerful men in government in one fell swoop: Lincoln, Vice President Johnson, Secretary of State Seward, and General Grant. It would have been devastating, but the other shooters never followed through or just failed outright.”</p><p>Wyatt blew out a breath. “Well, that's before they had semiautomatic weapons.”</p><p>Lucy swallowed. “Exactly. What if Flynn is trying to help them succeed? They would cripple the Union, maybe revive the Confederacy. Hell, Johnson and Grant are supposed to become presidents. America as we know it would be unrecognizable.” Lucy’s corset felt too tight; her breathing was surely constricted.</p><p>“Okay, so how do we stop all that?” Wyatt said, his eyes calm. Lucy allowed herself to concentrate on his calm. He had been shot and yet was calm. She could be calm. She wasn’t under water. She did not need to panic. She had the facts. The facts would ground her.</p><p>“One problem at a time,” she said, swallowing and nodding. “Grant takes a train out of town at six. I need to make sure he's on it.”</p><p>She turned to Rufus, who looked ill at the sight of Wyatt’s blood. “You take care of Wyatt,” she said to him and then turned to look at Wyatt again, meeting his eyes. “We're gonna need you tonight.” He inclined his head, leaning back and putting his arm above his head. Lucy broke eye contact and left.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt had looked at her with an intensity that she recognised when she had gotten changed into that dress. It had made her feel good, confident. She wriggled in her seat, glancing behind her. It wasn’t time yet, she knew. She knew the exact moment that Lincoln was supposed to get shot, because she knew which line was said just before he did. It wasn’t yet. She knew this. Those were the facts.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Robert Todd Lincoln whispered in her ear. Lucy nodded tightly, glancing around herself. Lincoln was sitting right there. She had to save General Grant, but perhaps she could save Lincoln too. It was what Wyatt wanted. The look on his face when she told him that Lincoln had to die had made her feel villainous but she was following Agent Christopher’s orders. Don’t change anything.</p><p>But Lincoln - Lucy remembered memorising his plays, dressing up as him one year for Halloween. And she was sitting here, next to his son, on a date with his son - something that Wyatt had found incredulous and then apparently very amusing, given the amount of jokes he had made about it. How could she let Robert’s father die? How could she allow him to see that?</p><p>She fidgeted. It was nearly time. God, Rufus’ face had been awful, worse than Wyatt’s. She wanted to make things better for him. It wasn’t fair to put this on her. How many people’s lives would improve?</p><p>But how many people’s lives would be worse? There was no way of telling how saving Lincoln could have repercussions across time. Saving him wasn’t necessarily the answer. And, in truth, if you looked at him truly, Lincoln wasn’t necessarily anti-racist.</p><p>Lucy shook her head. Agent Christopher had said that they couldn’t make any changes and she would stick to that.</p><p>It was Wyatt’s disappointed face that flashed into the forefront of her mind when, five minutes later, she was screaming to warn Lincoln and then wrestling to save General Grant.</p><p>XXX</p><p>They got Wyatt stitched up properly when they returned to the present. It was Lucy’s priority when she saw his pallor upon seating herself in the Lifeboat again, after he’d leaned back from fixing her seatbelt.</p><p>Rationally, Lucy knew that she should have left the moment she had given her report and promised to be ready again, the next time they called. She hadn’t seen Amy since she’d left to go on the Hindenburg mission and she was probably worried. And it wasn’t easy looking after their mom alone. Lucy should probably go home and relieve her - and, yet, she pulled the book that she always carried out of her bag and sat down to wait outside the medical room.</p><p>When Wyatt came out, looking far better than he had earlier, his tone had registered surprise as he found her. Lucy grinned.</p><p>“Come on,” she teased. “I’m waiting for a lift home.” Wyatt laughed. She had been offered a lift from one of Mason’s drivers and she should have taken it. She didn’t even know if Wyatt could drive after the gunshot. “Are you okay to drive?” she asked, worried.</p><p>With a roll of his eyes, Wyatt said, “Of course. It’ll take more than a bullet inside me to take me down, ma’am.”</p><p>Lucy smiled despite the nickname she disliked. “How are you feeling?” she asked, slipping her bookmark into her book and slinging her bag onto her shoulder as she stood.</p><p>“Better. Rufus did a good job not giving me sepsis.”</p><p>Lucy snorted. “Yes, I’m not sure how we would have coped without you last night.”</p><p>“Oh, I don’t know,” Wyatt said, opening the door out of Mason for her. “I think you’d have figured something out.” Lucy smiled, feeling a flush of happiness at his praise. “How you doing?” Lucy looked at him blankly. “You know, after seeing Lincoln die…”</p><p>“Oh,” Lucy said, her head shaking slightly. “Yeah, no, I’m okay. I mean, it was supposed to happen, wasn’t it?”</p><p>Wyatt laughed through his nose. “I guess so.”</p><p>They reached Wyatt’s car. It almost felt natural to swing into it and put her bag at her feet. She remembered with a start that her panties were probably still on the floor of his car. Whether Wyatt noticed or not, Lucy had no idea. His face did not change, at any rate. Perhaps they were under his seat. Perhaps she would have to make some excuse at some point to come into his car and retrieve them, else he’d find them weeks down the line -</p><p>“Thinking about your date?” Wyatt asked with a cocked eyebrow as he settled into his seat and turned the key in the ignition.</p><p>“Oh,” Lucy said, chuckling. “No, erm- no.”</p><p>Wyatt glanced at her, amused. “How was he? Robert Todd Lincoln. I can’t believe the guy took you on a date with his parents there.” Lucy clucked her tongue but she felt light-hearted at the teasing. “Come on, seriously,” he continued, as they left the car park, “It’s not often you get to date a president’s son.”</p><p>They chatted about the mission all the way back to Lucy’s house. Wyatt’s memory was incredibly good; he hardly needed any direction at all to get her there. By the time they arrived, Lucy was desperate to speak to Amy, not that she could tell her anything about the mission. She could tell her about Wyatt, about what had happened between them, and Amy, after taking the mick out of her, would sort her out.</p><p>“Thanks for the lift,” Lucy said a bit awkwardly as they drove into her street. She felt very aware of what had happened when last they had arrived at this spot. Wyatt inclined his head.</p><p>“Any time, ma’am.”</p><p>Lucy chuckled through her nose. “Okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you-” Lucy cut herself off, furrowing her brow as she looked around herself. There were a lot more cars than usual in her street, far more than there had been last night, when she and Wyatt had-</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Wyatt asked.</p><p>“Lots of cars,” she said, narrowing her focus to her house. There were four cars on the drive alone. In the living room window, she could see at least three people through the curtains. Perhaps Amy had visitors? Lucy pursed her lips. “Will you just-”</p><p>“I’ll wait here,” Wyatt said, his manner calm and serious, his eyes darting and soldier-like as he took in his surroundings. “Just nod at me through the window if it’s okay, alright?” Lucy nodded shakily and let herself out of the car.</p><p>She made her way up the drive. Her car was blocked in, so she hoped that she didn’t get called out again tonight. Her mom’s car looked cleaner than usual. Perhaps Amy had done something useful today and cleaned it. They were terrible for leaving it undone. It was only Amy who ever used it anyway and she didn’t care.</p><p>Lucy fumbled with her keys but found the door opened before she could unlock it herself. Her eyes widened at the sight of her mother, made-up - stood up - and dressed very nicely. Her smile was tight as she said, “Where the hell have you been?” through gritted teeth. Lucy swallowed.</p><p>“Mom?” she said softly. There was a lump in her throat. She glanced behind her, finding Wyatt watching intently. “Mom, how could-” Had it been the Hindenburg or Abraham Lincoln? What had they changed to make this happen? Lucy’s eyes found their way to the man standing behind her mom. “Who…” she trailed off.</p><p>“I cannot believe you are so late to your own engagement party.”</p><p>“My what?” Lucy said dumbly, feeling like she still had her corset on. Everything had started to feel tight. She shook her head.</p><p>Her mom scoffed. “I can’t believe you forgot - and where is your engagement ring?”</p><p>Lucy faltered. “I - maybe I left it in the car. Let me- let me go get it, okay? I’ll be two seconds.”</p><p>And she ran to Wyatt’s car, as fast as she could, leaving a well mother and a fiancé - a fiancé behind her.</p><p>“Hey, hey, hey,” Wyatt tried to soothe through the open window. “What’s happened?”</p><p>“My mom-” It came out in a sob. “My mom is well. I don't know what happened but she’s well- but it’s - Wyatt, it’s my engagement party and-”</p><p>“Woah, woah, woah,” Wyatt cut her off. “You’re engaged?” he asked incredulously. Lucy shook her head quickly.</p><p>“No, no, I’m not but this Lucy, this Lucy whose mom is well, she’s engaged. I don’t know who he is but I’m already late and I have to- My mom wants me to wear my engagement ring-”</p><p>“But you don’t have an engagement ring.”</p><p>“I know that, Wyatt,” Lucy snapped, looking around her as though she would find the answers in the dark. “What do I do?”</p><p>“Get in. We’ll go somewhere, away from here. I’ll take you somewhere safe.”</p><p>The offer made Lucy’s insides heat but she shook her head. “I can’t. Wyatt, I have to live my life.” Wyatt closed his eyes briefly and then opened them again.</p><p>“It’s a false life, Lucy.”</p><p>“But it’s real now! This is reality now.” Lucy took in a deep breath and exhaled. “You should go. I’ll figure it out. You should go and check your reality hasn’t changed either.”</p><p>Wyatt looked reluctant. “Lucy, I -”</p><p>Lucy shook her head. “I’ll be fine. I’ll see you soon, okay?” Wyatt nodded and Lucy met his eyes once more before rushing off back towards the house, deciding to be more calm, more collected, more like Wyatt in the face of danger.</p><p>The fiancé greeted her at the door this time, the man who had been standing behind her mom. “Hello,” he said softly and then he was kissing her. Lucy’s eyes widened. He pulled away.</p><p>“Hello,” she said in response, her heart racing at the madness of the situation.</p><p>They headed over to the living room, full of people that Lucy hardly recognised, some of whom she didn’t know whatsoever. She wanted Amy to come and find her. Lucy peeked through the gap in the curtains and found Wyatt’s car still there. Swallowing, she turned away to the fiancé, who spoke. “Who was that?” he asked curiously.</p><p>“Erm,” Lucy said, glancing at Wyatt’s car again. She shook her friend. “Only a friend.”</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Atomic City</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wyatt stood the second that Lucy came into view, dressed up in a pretty yellow dress. They’d been waiting about ten minutes for her, since she’d arrived and been hurried off to get changed. Wyatt and Rufus were already dressed, ready to face whatever was coming, which the internet had no ideas on. He noticed the ring on Lucy’s finger before anything else and remembered the way she had looked, crying at his car window the night before.</p><p>“Lucy,” he said, in low tones. “What happened?”</p><p>Lucy’s eyes were blank when she looked up at him. “My sister is gone.”</p><p>Wyatt felt his eyes widen. “What do you mean gone?” Rufus asked urgently.</p><p>Lucy shrugged, crouching down to the computer to see the date and the location that Jiya had tracked. “I mean she’s gone, disappeared from history. My mom has never heard of her. My fiancé thinks I’m crazy.”</p><p>“Fiancé?” Rufus repeated incredulously.</p><p>“Oh, yes, his name is Noah. We’re engaged. It was our engagement party last night, which I was late for. I also wasn’t wearing my engagement ring, which was interesting given the amount of people who had come to the party, essentially to just see that.”</p><p>“Not an issue you have now,” he said, nodding at the huge rock on her finger.</p><p>“Yeah,” Lucy said, swallowing audibly as she straightened. “Noah found it in our bathroom. Gaudy, isn’t it?”</p><p>It was gaudy. It was silver with a big shiny diamond. It was far bigger than Wyatt had given to Jessica. He found it hard to believe that some women wanted rings big enough to weigh their fingers down. Lucy shook her head as though that would clear it. “Okay, so Vegas ‘62? I have no ideas for what is happening there.”</p><p>Wyatt stifled a sigh. “We know that Kennedy was in town,” he offered, from their research. Lucy nodded slowly.</p><p>“Okay. Any room with JFK would be filled with celebrities, other politicians, probably some mafia.” She shrugged. “Flynn could kill any of them and it would be a disaster.”</p><p>Wyatt blew out a breath. “Well, we need to get there first.” Agent Christopher dismissed them to the Lifeboat. Wyatt caught Lucy halfway up the stairs, his hand on her elbow. “Are you okay to do this?”</p><p>“I don’t have a choice, Wyatt. We have to make sure nobody else loses their sister. And, anyway, I don’t want to go home to a man I don’t know.”</p><p>“So, I guess you live with him, in this timeline?” Wyatt said as they entered the capsule. Lucy nodded, taking her seat. Leaning over to help with her seatbelt, he said quietly, “We’ll get Amy back, Lucy.”</p><p>“Jiya says she is going to research what changed. I gave her my parents’ details.” Lucy telling Jiya before him hit Wyatt funny but he ignored it. He nodded.</p><p>“Good. We can get her back. We have the lifeboat.” Lucy nodded and twisted the ring on her finger. Wyatt smiled. “So, you gonna take his last name or keep yours?”</p><p>“I don't even know his last name,” Lucy said but she was smiling, just a little bit.</p><p>“Well, look on the bright side,” Wyatt said as he did his own seatbelt.</p><p>“There's a bright side?”</p><p>“You still got the honeymoon to look forward to,” and Wyatt winked at her with a smirk. He was glad to see her purse her lips to hide her smile.</p><p>“Plus you get to go to Vegas,” Rufus added. Wyatt raised his brows at her and she seemed to allow herself the smile.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“You couldn't land any more out of the way?” Wyatt asked as they made their way across the desert towards where they hoped Flynn was going to be. A fifty mile radius, Jiya had said they had managed to find. Wyatt had been the one to assume Vegas. It made sense but Lucy had some niggling doubts. </p><p>“You rather I park on the Strip?” Rufus asked, cocking his head with raised brows. Lucy played with the ring on her finger. Wyatt chuckled.</p><p>The sound of an explosion - and then the appearance of a mushroom cloud - shocked all of them to stillness. “We're too late.” Rufus’ tone was devastated. Lucy’s lips quirked.</p><p>“That's not Flynn,” she told him, carrying on walking towards their destination. “There's a nuclear test site about 60 miles on the other side of town.”</p><p>“Who's crazy enough to test a nuclear bomb outside of Vegas?”.</p><p>“The U.S. Department of Energy.”</p><p>“During the '50s and '60s, they tested over 1,000 nuclear weapons in the Nevada desert,” Wyatt said. Lucy turned her impressed eyes upon him. “Set 'em off a couple times a week.” Lucy’s astonishment must have been obvious because, a smirk playing at his lips, Wyatt said, “What? I know my military history.” Lucy tamped down her smile, ignoring the intense look Wyatt shot her.</p><p>“Before Vegas was known as Sin City, they called it Atomic City.”</p><p>Rufus sighed. “Anyone got any sunscreen?”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Being slapped on the ass was yet another reminder that the past was not a comfortable place to be a woman. Her conversation with Kennedy’s mistress was another. It just sucked to be a woman in the past and Lucy was well aware that these adventures were only going to solidify that view.</p><p>She had had to send Rufus back to get a better outfit than the handkerchief that he had brought her to blend in, though she had seen Wyatt cock his head and look at her in the same way he had walking along the desert earlier, that cocky, sultry smile that made Lucy’s head spin. She had only pursed her lips at him. When she had been wearing a different handkerchief, ten or so minutes later, she had had to contain her smirk at the way he was watching her, less controlled and arrogant than earlier.</p><p>It was nice to trip him up, since he seemed to spend half his time completely cool and collected, while Lucy panicked and worried.</p><p>The whole mission had essentially been a failure, Lucy’s slight surge of ego notwithstanding. They’d thought they’d saved everything, when Wyatt had done that crazy, pulse-racing, arrogant driving to run Flynn off the road, and they’d saved Judith and the briefcase. Yes, they hadn’t killed Flynn but they had got the atomic bomb - until they hadn’t and everything had deflated.</p><p>Anthony Bruhl had screwed them over. Sure, Judith had survived - to live a pretty rubbish rest of her life - and they had preserved history but Flynn was still living, with an atomic bomb behind him. Wyatt had been frustrated to say the least. Lucy hadn’t known what to say.</p><p>“Psst,” Jiya said, drawing Lucy out of the locker room. She gave Jiya half a smile, looping her bag over her shoulder. Following her into another room, Lucy felt anxiety burn at her stomach. What Jiya was going to tell her could be- well, Lucy just had no idea. She sat down at the computer and listened to what Jiya had to say.</p><p>“So,” Lucy said, swallowing. “My dad never met my mom, so they never had Amy, but they had me.” Lucy closed her eyes. “Which means my dad was never my dad, even before this.”</p><p>Jiya made a sound that Lucy took as pity. Lucy ignored it. She saw her dad behind her eyes. He’d died when she was fifteen. She swallowed down a sudden surge of grief. How could he not be her real father? He was- He’d always been-</p><p>She felt like she was losing her father alongside her sister. And her mother had been lying to her for her whole life. “Erm, I’ll go,” Jiya said. Lucy opened her eyes and saw that Jiya was looking at the doorframe, where Wyatt was standing. With a grateful smile to Jiya, Lucy leaned back in the chair, expelling a long breath.</p><p>“What did she find out?” he asked, his voice deep and grave.</p><p>Lucy half-chuckled, though none of it was funny. “My mom and dad never met, so Amy was never born, but, apparently, my dad is not my biological father because I still exist.” Lucy swallowed all of the pain associated with that statement. Wyatt approached her. He stood over her, his hands jolting as though he wanted to hug her or cup her cheeks or something else. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut to keep her tears in. Wyatt’s hand finally settled on her shoulder.</p><p>“Let’s go for a drink.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Judith Campbell was pretty amazing,” Wyatt commented. Lucy smiled, sipping at her wine.</p><p>She hummed lightly. “She thought a lot of you, even after you threatened to tie her up.” Wyatt felt his lips stretch into a smile at her disapproving look and tone. “She called you ‘pretty blue eyes’.”</p><p>“Well, I do have pretty blue eyes,” Wyatt said, taking a swallow of his beer. Lucy smiled, showing her teeth. She had a pretty smile. “What else did you and Judith Campbell talk about, besides my eyes?”</p><p>Lucy pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes teasingly. “Well, she asked if I was sleeping with you.” Wyatt choked on his beer, which made Lucy laugh.</p><p>“Seriously?”</p><p>“Mmhmm. She said that you could use it, ‘cause you’re wound pretty tight.” Wyatt barked out a laugh, briefly considering what Judith Campbell would have thought of him if he hadn’t shagged Lucy two days prior. “Try and stop me,” Lucy said, in a deep imitation of what Wyatt knew to be his voice. He grimaced at the reminder of the way he had spoken to her, with a snarl. Perhaps Judith Campbell was right. He had been wound pretty tight for this mission.</p><p>“I am sorry,” he said sincerely but Lucy waved him off, drinking more of her white wine.</p><p>“Don’t bother with any of that. Just doing your job. I’m sure we’ll clash again.” Wyatt chuckled.</p><p>“Count on it, ma’am.” Lucy tutted but he knew she didn’t mind being called ma’am really. “You liked her, though?”</p><p>Lucy nodded. “She knew what she wanted and she got it. Must be nice.”</p><p>Wyatt bobbed his head. “Yeah,” he said, sipping more of his beer. “You think Rufus is okay? After Anthony?”</p><p>Lucy shrugged but her facial features showed how much she cared about their pilot. “I don’t know. If one of my friends had betrayed me like that, I’d be devastated.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Wyatt sighed.</p><p>Lucy let out a groan, startling Wyatt. “What am I going to do?” Wyatt had to laugh, even as she put her head into her hands, even though he knew it wasn’t funny. She was just so- so- “He- God, he thinks I’m her, the one he fell in love with, and it’s just- it’s just awkward.”</p><p>Wyatt hummed. “Sounds it.”</p><p>Lucy’s eyes widened emphatically. “He walked into the kitchen this morning in only his underwear. I don’t even know his surname and I’ve seen him essentially naked.”</p><p>Wyatt cocked his head. “I could say the same about a few-” he cut himself off when Lucy glared at him. Wyatt grinned.</p><p>“And he keeps kissing me! Mason called this morning with perfect timing to get me out of yet another awkward situation. I feel sorry for him but I can’t-” She shook her head. Wyatt nodded at her drink.</p><p>“Keep drinking.”</p><p>She rolled her eyes but picked up her glass. “What the hell happened to my life? Two days ago, I had a sister and my dad was my dad and my mom- God, I forgot how much I argued with my mom before she was sick. She keeps messaging me and we argued last night at the party.” Lucy sighed. “I just don’t feel comfortable in my own life.”</p><p>Wyatt watched her carefully. He had half expected to find his own reality disordered when he had driven home from her house last night, but he had found the same empty apartment as ever. It made him feel even more sorry for Lucy and even more regretful for leaving her, in a house of people she barely knew. It had taken long enough to decide to leave her originally. He had sat there, watching through the window, just in case he needed to bust her out of there.</p><p>“You should come home with me,” Wyatt suggested casually. “Channel Judith Campbell and take care of yourself before anyone else.”</p><p>Lucy’s eyes fell to the table, a breathy laugh escaping from her mouth. Wyatt was reminded of why it was such a bad idea to invite her back to his place but he didn’t retract his offer. “I’m not sure that that is a good idea, Wyatt.”</p><p>Wyatt shrugged, as though it didn’t matter whether she accepted - and it didn’t, really. She could go back to her fiancé’s. Wyatt’s discomfort with the idea was no real reason not to. Her own discomfort was, but, if it would be worse at Wyatt’s, he did not want her to go through with it.</p><p>“I promise to take the couch.”</p><p>Lucy’s lips twitched. “Okay.” She nodded as though she was confirming it with herself too. “I should text Noah. I’ll tell him I’m staying at my mom’s.” She pulled out her phone to do just that, her eyes flicking upwards to meet his and then back down to the phone. Half of Wyatt’s mouth stirred into a smile.</p><p>The reminder that Lucy did in fact have somewhere else to stay made his heart buoy slightly. She didn’t have to come home with him. Wyatt didn’t have any parents to speak of, so he’d never consider being able to stay at theirs. But Lucy did. She could have stayed with her mom. But she was coming home with him instead.</p><p>Rufus had been right earlier. They really were starting to gel as a team.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Party at Castle Varlar</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy woke lazily, her mind first and then her eyes slowly committed to the action too, peeling open and finding the creamy ceiling above, and the dark grey bedspread that she had fallen to sleep beneath the previous night. Curling herself to the side, she buried her face into the pillow, a soft cotton that smelled of whiskey and Wyatt’s shampoo. She pressed her hair against it.</p><p>Slowly she became aware of the smell of fat and the sizzle of oil in a pan filtering through to the bedroom, from behind the door, which Lucy knew led to the kitchen. They may have arrived late last night, but there had been time for the very short tour of Wyatt’s empty, impersonal apartment. She imagined it was the picture of most bachelor soldier’s apartments.</p><p>After rolling her neck on her shoulders and letting out a satisfied sigh, Lucy forced herself out of the bed, tightening the ties on the too-large joggers of Wyatt’s that she had requisitioned as pyjamas the night before. His top, too, fell further down on her body than it should have but it was a pleasant, comfortable feeling to have space in her sleeves and a gaping collar.</p><p>Wyatt looked over as she opened the door into the common area, a large room that comprised the living room and kitchen-diner. Body facing the stove, Wyatt seemed to strain his neck to look at her. With a smile teasing her lips, Lucy approached, feeling the soft brown carpet of the living room become the cold tile of the kitchen. Her toes curled beneath her.</p><p>“Good morning,” she said, reaching to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. His eyes flicked up and down her body and then returned to the stove.</p><p>“Good morning,” he replied. “Breakfast is nearly ready. Do you want a coffee?”</p><p>“Mm,” Lucy sighed. “Yes please.” She glanced around and pulled out a chair at his small table, seating herself and tucking her knees up beneath her chin. Wyatt turned to look at her again and smiled. From behind, Lucy got the full pleasure of viewing Wyatt’s messy bedhead. He was usually so put together that it was charming to see him bedraggled like this. “Can I help with anything?” Lucy asked, aware that it was slightly belated.</p><p>Wyatt gave her an amused glance. “No, don’t worry. I’ll be two seconds.”</p><p>“Okay,” Lucy said. She had left her phone in the bedroom. She’d not received a reply from Noah last night and was vaguely curious as to his response to her saying that she was staying at her mom’s, but she was also quite certain that her phone would contain messages from her mother. With only one child to pester, Carol Preston was indeed quite the pesterer.</p><p>Wyatt placed a plate in front of her, full with bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs and beans. She smiled with delight and took the cutlery from him with a smile. Next came a glass of orange juice and then a mug of coffee. “Milk or sugar?” Wyatt asked. Lucy shook her head, bringing the hot cup of coffee to her lips but not drinking any of it, just savouring the smell and the heat against her lips. “Did you sleep well?”</p><p>“Very well. Thank you for giving up your bed for me” she said, placing her coffee back down on its coaster. Each of their mugs and glasses had separate coasters and their plates were on place mats. “I think I should probably go and get some clothes from Noah’s today.”</p><p>Wyatt grimaced. “Sounds like a fun conversation.”</p><p>“Yes, hopefully he’ll be at work.”</p><p>He nodded to her plate. “Eat up. You’ll need your strength to deal with the fiancé and his kissing.” Lucy rolled her eyes but felt her stomach roil at the reminder. She dug into her breakfast to distract herself. Wyatt cleared his throat. “I could come with you, if you wanted.”</p><p>Lucy ate while she thought of what to say. It would be nice to have back up, true, but at what cost? She swallowed, shaking her head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Noah already saw you dropping me off the other night. I don’t think he would appreciate me staying at your place. He’s already suspicious.”</p><p>Wyatt ducked his head but Lucy saw the smirk at his lips and narrowed her eyes at him. He shrugged cavalierly. “He’d be right to be, wouldn’t he?” </p><p>Lucy scowled. “I’ll drive over there after breakfast and come back.” Lucy stilled at her own words. She found Wyatt’s eyes on her. “Sorry, I’m being presumptuous-”</p><p>Wyatt’s shrug cut her off. “You can stay for as long as you like.”</p><p>“But I don’t want to relegate you to the couch. You have to take the bed if I’m staying for another night.”</p><p>“I can sleep anywhere. Perk of being in the military.”</p><p>“I feel guilty,” Lucy told him, sipping at her orange juice. “It’s your apartment and you’re taller than me. You’re having the bed tonight. I’m not letting you sleep on the couch again.” </p><p>Lucy hoped that the serious look on her face made her look irreproachable but Wyatt only smirked and said, “Try and stop me,” and paused before adding, “ma’am.” Lucy scowled but he laughed, his blue eyes sparkling with it. Lucy turned her eyes back to her food.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy arrived at Noah’s about an hour after they had had breakfast. She had changed out of Wyatt’s clothes, leaving them on the floor next to Wyatt’s bed, and then promised she would call Wyatt if anything happened, before driving to the house that she supposedly called home.</p><p>It was quite a nice house, she considered as she walked up to it, fingering the set of keys in her pocket. It wasn’t what she’d ever wanted, really. She preferred old houses, with bay windows and a porch out front, while this was modern with crisp features and a shiny door. But it was nice even so. Perhaps this was what the Lucy of this timeline preferred. How was Lucy to know?</p><p>Before Lucy could unlock the door, it was opened and Noah’s anxious face was in front of her. Lucy swallowed. “Oh- Noah- I thought you might be at work.”</p><p>“Where have you been?” he demanded.</p><p>“My mom’s,” she said. “I texted you.”</p><p>Noah scoffed. “I texted your mom to check on you. I thought something was wrong and I didn’t want to crowd you. Your mom said she hadn’t seen you since the party.” Lucy stifled a sigh. “So, where were you?”</p><p>“Can I come in?”</p><p>Noah groaned. “Of course you can come in, Lucy. This is your home, if you remember.”</p><p>“Right,” she said uneasily, walking inside and closing the door with a click. “I stayed at a friend’s.”</p><p>Noah tutted and turned away. “Which friend? And why would you lie? Was it that man from the car?” Lucy had been right not to let Wyatt come, she supposed. She shook her head.</p><p>“No, another friend, from Stanford. I’m sorry, Noah.”</p><p>Sighing, Noah turned to her, his eyes intense and his mouth in a grimace. “You just take as long as you need, Lucy. I don’t know what’s going on with you but I’m willing to wait for it to go away.”</p><p>“You are?” Lucy said skeptically.</p><p>“Yes,” Noah said, raising his voice and placing emphasis on the word. “Because I love you, Lucy. Whatever this is, we can get through it.”</p><p>Lucy swallowed. “Okay. Erm- I want to get some things.” Noah nodded and Lucy bobbed her head at him as she walked past, making her way upstairs. This man truly loved her, enough to let her leave him and wait for her. Lucy’s chest felt tight and uncertain. She wasn’t sure whether she should go downstairs and tell him that it was over, that all of it was over, and that he shouldn’t wait, because she wasn’t ever going to fall in love with him. But who knew what the future held? And if one Lucy had loved him, perhaps this Lucy would too, eventually.</p><p>It was a poor, coward’s argument but she let herself get away with it. Hurriedly packing some things into a bag, Lucy got herself out of the house, with hardly a look at her supposed fiancé. It was all too much, all the feelings, the way Noah’s eyes had flashed when he’d mentioned ‘the man from the car’. Lucy didn’t want to think about any of it.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt waited for Lucy on the sofa, leg shaking and eyes focussed on the door, rather than the television screen that was playing a repeat football game. He let out a groan and tried to watch the football but his mind kept darting back to Lucy, to where she was, why she was taking so long and why he had let her go alone.</p><p>He hadn’t wanted to but he understood her reasoning for asking him to stay. If Noah had noticed him the other night - and, admittedly, Wyatt had sat outside her mom’s house for longer than he should have - then it would have been a risk to take Wyatt there, where her fiancé could have become angry. As much as Wyatt wanted to dismiss this Noah, he did feel sorry for him. His fiancée, the girl he loved, had come back one day and not known him, not loved him and not wanted to be with him any longer - and, worse still, he knew none of this. All he knew was that she was acting strangely. Putting Wyatt into that situation too made Lucy look unfaithful, which could only have been more painful for him. </p><p>But Wyatt was thinking about how he would feel in that situation, not Noah. He had no idea how this Noah would feel because they didn’t know him. He was an unknown, with unknown motives and plans, and Wyatt did not like the unknown. Lucy was - well, he cared about Lucy, despite only having known her for a few days. He didn’t want to risk her safety like this.</p><p>Wyatt found that his attention had drifted again. He shook himself and glanced at the score on the screen, uncaring. Perhaps he would care more if it was live. He glanced at his watch and settled his eyes back on the television - and then there was a knock at the door.</p><p>Wyatt jumped up, dashed to the door and then stilled, taking in a deep breath. He didn’t need to freak Lucy out like this. When he opened the door, he was almost smiling but not smiling fully, trying to get the perfect balance between happy and uncaring that she had returned.</p><p>“Hey,” she said. Wyatt stood to the side to let her enter.</p><p>“Hi,” he replied when he had closed the door. “How was it?”</p><p>She put her bag down on the sofa and then herself with a sigh. “Alright.” She met his eyes and then looked away, to her lap. Wyatt narrowed his eyes and approached, sitting back down on the sofa, ignoring the noise the football game was making.</p><p>“What’s happened?”</p><p>She shook her head. “I’m fine.”</p><p>Wyatt knew that was a lie but she clearly didn’t want to talk about it. “Shall we put a movie on?” Lucy smiled.</p><p>“I’d like that,” she agreed. Wyatt grabbed the remote and found Netflix quickly. “Don’t choose some scary action movie.”</p><p>Wyatt turned to her, amused. “What would you prefer, Professor? A historical epic.” Lucy quirked her lips.</p><p>“Trust me, you do not want to be around me when I’m watching history films.” Wyatt could imagine. He raised a brow at her. She flushed and Wyatt’s lips parted. She shook her head. “No, put something funny on.”</p><p>“Yes, ma’am.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Midafternoon, halfway into the second Hangover movie, Wyatt got a call. “Agent Christopher,” he murmured. Lucy looked at her own phone and found it wasn’t ringing. Clearly, Agent Christopher called Wyatt first. Lucy nodded at him hurriedly, to make him answer the phone. She listened anxiously for any clues but didn’t receive any, until he said, “I’m on my way, ma’am.”</p><p>He hung up the phone. “So?” she demanded. “When?” Lucy’s phone still wasn’t ringing. Wyatt shook his head. His lips were parted. Lucy creased her brow.</p><p>“They’ve tracked Flynn’s location. We’re doing a raid.” Lucy swallowed the immediate rush of fear that that brought her.</p><p>“You’re going now?” Wyatt nodded stiffly. </p><p>“If we don’t get him, it’ll be because he’s jumped, so you might be needed at Mason fairly soon.”</p><p>“Hopefully not, though,” Lucy said shakily. Wyatt nodded.</p><p>“Hopefully not,” he agreed. “Right, I’m going to go. I’ll see you here later.”</p><p>Lucy nodded, her throat thick. He grabbed his jacket and car keys and made for the door. When he reached it, he turned back to look at her and there was a blaze in his eyes that Lucy couldn’t identify. She kept her eyes on his for a moment before he broke the contact and opened the door.</p><p>In a few steps, she was in front of him, saying, “Wyatt.” He blinked but the ferocity in his eyes didn’t disappear. If anything, it intensified. She bit her lip and then reached to cup his cheek in her hand. Heart racing, she pressed her lips to his, briefly, momentarily, but for long enough to close her eyes.</p><p>When she pulled herself away and returned her hand to her side, Wyatt was staring at her with something she couldn’t place, his lips parted and blue eyes wide.</p><p>She half-smiled. “Go,” she reminded him. He nodded once and then a few more times, more hurriedly and he was gone.</p><p>Lucy returned to the sofa and grabbed her phone and her keys from the side table. She couldn’t just sit here and wait for news, good or bad. She wanted to be at Mason for when it came in.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“What about the date? Any significance?” Lucy shook her head ruefully. There was nothing worse than this, when her use for the team wasn’t good enough. She just couldn’t know all history and her specialism was American history anyway - and this was Nazis. Nazis.</p><p>She cleared her throat. “There is one thing.” She paused, approaching the map and pointing to a spot of forest. “There was a tavern called Das Stein Haus, here. It may have been a rendezvous place for the Allied Resistance. It's not 100%. The accounts are spotty, but maybe someone there can point us in the right direction.”</p><p>“Just so I'm clear,” Wyatt said, eyebrows raised and the frustration in his eyes that had been there since she’d first seen him arrive at Mason ablaze, “you want to drop us into Nazi territory, roll up blind to some bar, and just convince someone there that we don't know to help us?” Wyatt pointed a thumb at Wyatt. “By the way, bring him?”</p><p>“Well, it's either that or give the Nazis a nuclear weapon,” Lucy said, raising her brows at him.</p><p>“Well, does anyone here even speak German?” Rufus asked.</p><p>“I do,” Wyatt said. Lucy blinked, flicking her eyes up and down him.</p><p>“Really? You do?”</p><p>“Yeah, four languages, actually.” Lucy’s lips parted. He looked at her, amused. “The Army drops us into other places than Palo Alto.” Lucy glanced at him again, appreciatively.</p><p>Crossing her arms, she said, “Well, does anyone have any idea how we're gonna get lederhosen in the next five minutes?”</p><p>And then Mason showed them the new wardrobe dock. It was like something out of a cosplayer’s dreams. Lucy found herself an outfit, in the Germany 40s section, and then headed to the locker room to change. She took in a deep breath as she changed. Every other mission had been cut and dry - with one main enemy. Going into Nazi territory was a whole different situation. There would be enemies at every turn, to identify, to fight.</p><p>Lucy shook her head and straightened the collar on her burgundy shirt. At least the costumes avoided any more historical inaccuracies, and it fit rather well too. She supposed that they had stocked all of the women’s clothes in her size. There was nobody else on the team who’d need them, after all.</p><p>Lucy met her own eyes in the mirror. Another day, another mission. She could never have predicted this when she had signed up to be a teacher. She had just wanted to research history and have other people love history as much as she did. She was not built to be a soldier.</p><p>Soldier. Lucy rubbed her lips together to make the red spread. She was not a soldier. Even on the missions, she was technically a civilian, who Wyatt had to protect. Wyatt was the soldier and yet they had all come face to face with guns, with violence. Flynn was trying to get rid of all of them equally, not just Wyatt. They were three components of an essential team.</p><p>Lucy recognised the panic rising in her chest. She bit her lip, closed her eyes and opened them again. In the mirror, she gave herself a look. This was not the time for a panic attack. Her heart needed to slow. She needed to ground herself.</p><p>Look at the facts. She looked at the facts to ground herself - the issue was that the facts were working against her. Her sister had been a fact. She had always been there and now she wasn’t. One fact, gone. Her mom was sick and Lucy had to provide for the family. Now? She had no idea if she provided for them, or if her mom did. Did her mom still teach? She had no idea.</p><p>The panic wasn’t going away. It was rising. It had her heart in its grasp and its burning fingers were clawing up to her throat -</p><p>“Hey.” </p><p>Wyatt was in the mirror behind her. Lucy blinked and met his eyes. “You okay?” he asked, his eyes concerned. She didn’t respond. Instead, she patted more rouge onto her lips and then followed him to the Lifeboat.</p><p>“So when we get to this tavern, how do we let 'em know we're friendly?” Wyatt asked, taking his seat across from her.</p><p>“Well, the accounts that I've read said that you have to order a specific Cognac at the bar. A '23 Remy Martin.”</p><p>Wyatt leaned forward to do her seatbelt. Lucy wondered if he did it because he thought she couldn’t, or if he wanted to help, or if he thought she was incapable. She felt incapable. She felt like she was falling into the unknown. “These the spotty, unreliable accounts?” he asked.</p><p>“Unfortunately, yes.”</p><p>And then they were going. She saw Wyatt glance at her and then look away. Lucy did the same to him, studying his expression for a moment. Kissing him that afternoon had been silly and spurred on by the danger he had been about to face. It had been stupid, had breached their agreement to forget about that - she couldn’t even call it a night together. That time together, in his car.</p><p>It was almost easy to forget about it, given the incredible, scary events that had surrounded it.</p><p>Lucy closed her eyes as the time machine began to shake. Seeing Wyatt respond poorly to it was never an encouraging sight for her, so she closed her eyes against it, tried to put everything out of mind. A clear mind was a smart mind. That was one of her mother’s sayings, when Lucy had been prepping for exams.</p><p>The Lifeboat stopped shaking as they arrived with a thud. Lucy cracked her eyes open to find Wyatt with his own closed, breathing deeply. She fiddled with the handle to get them out, to allow Wyatt to recover. He groaned. “We really need to start bringing some dramamine,” Wyatt said. Lucy agreed with a grunt.</p><p>The door whirred open. Wyatt rested his head on his hands. Lucy turned slowly to glance out. Her eyes widened. There, looking in, was a soldier, in Nazi uniform. “Oh my God,” Lucy muttered. Wyatt looked up, slowly, too slowly - but he was a good soldier and he reacted quickly, shot accurately and cleared the situation. Capable.</p><p>Lucy exhaled. “No way he’s out here alone,” Wyatt said, getting over his motion sickness enough to step out of the Lifeboat, gun drawn.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt tapped his fingers against his lips, trying to look in thought when he felt Rufus’ eyes on him. He glanced over to the castle. Lucy was inside, with Ian Fleming. Boy, when they said not to meet your heroes, they were right. Although, Wyatt was fairly certain that they didn’t mean that your heroes would flirt with your - would flirt with Lucy and force her into a dangerous situation.</p><p>Leaning his head one way and then the other to stretch, Wyatt knew he was being unfair on Fleming. He was not the first to flirt with Lucy on one of these missions. Hell, Lincoln’s son had tried it on. And he had not forced Lucy into a dangerous situation. She had chosen to go in - after Wyatt had got her over the hump.</p><p>He’d seen the signs on her the second he’d seen her that morning when she had returned from Noah’s, had ignored them, dismissed them as remnants of a difficult conversation. Then, he’d seen her in the mirror, shaking. He knew what was wrong with her, then. She wasn’t a soldier but she had been put into the situation where she had to be one. But Wyatt wasn’t sure of the best way to discuss it with her. As much time as they had spent together over the past few days, he didn’t really know her and he did not want to make things worse.</p><p>But then he had found her getting ready to infiltrate the Nazi castle and he knew that he had to speak with her. He’d found the words, had shared some of his own experience and told her to find something that she wanted to fight for.</p><p>And, then, just before she had left the room, he had done exactly as she had earlier and not let her walk out without first kissing her, for longer than she had before too. He’d rested his forehead on hers and said, “Go get ‘em, ma’am,” before letting her leave.</p><p>Wyatt looked up at the castle again. He and Lucy were playing a dangerous game here. There was something between them. There had been since the moment they’d met, a tension, a sort of chemistry that Wyatt hadn’t felt in a long time. And they were playing into it. It was not a good idea. Wyatt knew that he could be dismissed and replaced with ease. He wasn’t sure what they’d do with Lucy but he was sure that they would not want two soldiers - even if one of them was not quite a soldier - compromised in this way on a mission.</p><p>Agent Christopher would think that it was a distraction, an unnecessary complication on an already complicated mission. But it was more than that, for Wyatt. If he was asked to step down now, God, he’d be devastated. He wanted to protect Rufus and Lucy, wanted to take down Flynn and save history. It was too important of a mission to trust to anybody else. Wyatt knew that he could do it and he didn’t want to risk it.</p><p>He’d had these thoughts pretty consistently since the beginning, since his and Lucy’s first time anyway, and, yet, he kissed her, he responded when she’d kissed him earlier. They were playing with the feelings between them and one - or both - of them was going to get hurt.</p><p>Wyatt picked up the binoculars to look into the castle, through the window. He searched momentarily and then found Lucy and Fleming. Fleming was holding her hand. Wyatt clenched his jaw. “Are you serious?” </p><p>“What?” Wyatt pressed the binoculars into Rufus’ hand. He lifted them to his eyes. “Dude… James Bond’s hitting on Lucy.” Rufus drew them away from his eyes. “And she’s into it.”</p><p>Wyatt scowled, returning to the job at hand. He’d just kissed Lucy. She’d kissed him this morning. Of course there was nothing official between them - and nor would there be - but he was still allowed to be pissed that she was letting James Bond flirt with her. Wyatt huffed, ignoring the look that Rufus gave him. He did not have time to think about what Rufus was thinking as well as everything he was thinking, and some of what Lucy was thinking, not that he could ever truly crack that.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“So, what are you doing after this?” Wyatt asked, leaning against the rack of clothing behind Lucy. She met his eyes in the mirror and smiled.</p><p>“You offering me a lift?” she teased. Wyatt shook his head.</p><p>“Well, you drove here, so no, but I am offering you my bed.” Lucy’s eyebrows flew up and Wyatt had to smirk at listening to his own words. “I mean, you in my bed, without me.” Lucy let out a short, sparkling laugh. Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Do you wanna watch the new Bond movie?”</p><p>Lucy opened her mouth and then closed it, pursing her lips to hide her smile. “Do I wanna watch myself as some helpless Bond girl? Sure.”</p><p>Wyatt grinned. “Perfect.”</p><p>They drove home in separate cars, reaching Wyatt’s flat relatively quickly. Lucy parked up and found Wyatt waiting for her by the lift. “Speed fiend,” she accused him lightly. Half of his mouth lifted in a smirk.</p><p>They jumped in the lift and reached Wyatt’s apartment quickly. Wyatt sat down on the sofa while Lucy made a cup of tea for them in the kitchen. “You got it?” she called.</p><p>“Yeah, it’s on Prime.”</p><p>“Perfect,” she said, walking over to him and passing him the tea. He winced and placed it down on the coaster next to him. Lucy made sure she did the same with her mug. “Come on, then. It’s not every day a girl gets to see herself hit on by James Bond.”</p><p>“And experience it on the same day,” Wyatt said with a knowing look. Lucy narrowed her eyes. “I saw him,” he said lightly, “holding your hand in Castle Varlar.”</p><p>“How?” she demanded incredulously.</p><p>“Binoculars.”</p><p>“You were spying on me?”</p><p>“Watching out for your safety,” Wyatt corrected. Lucy tutted.</p><p>“Sure.” Lucy shook her head. “Jealous?” Her tone was light. Wyatt gave her a sidewards glance and then turned his eyes to the screen. The theme song was playing. He looked back at her.</p><p>“Shut up,” he said softly and then leaned over and wrapped an arm around her. Lucy allowed her body to fall into him, tucking her knees up onto the sofa and pressing the side of her face into his side. She didn’t think too deeply into it. “So, did you figure out what you were fighting for?” he asked, looking down at her. Sean Connery had appeared on the screen but Wyatt’s eyes were only on her.</p><p>She smiled. “Amy.”</p><p>Wyatt nodded. “We’ll get her back, keep fighting until we do.” Lucy shifted so that she was looking up at him, into his eyes, and then shifted some more so that she could kiss him, at first softly and then more pressingly, urgently. He pulled her closer, his hand on the back of her neck. Every hair on her body stood on end. Her heart raced.</p><p>Wyatt’s other hand wound its way around her back, touched the skin that was revealed between her top and her trousers. Lucy shivered. She pulled away and turned to look at the screen, just in time to see James Bond meet ‘Lucy’. Laughing, she turned back to Wyatt, whose eyes were dark and glimmering. Lucy swallowed and he surged up to her, to kiss her again.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Alamo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy twiddled with the ring on her finger. It was a coward’s move to wear it to see her mother. Wyatt’s eyes had narrowed in on it before she’d left but she had a feeling that her mother would do more than narrow her eyes at its absence and it wasn’t truly hurting anybody, to wear a ring and pretend, just for a little while.</p><p>She’d been nervous to see her mom, which was not helped by the fact that Wyatt had not thought that it was a good idea, but it was necessary. If she ever wanted to get back to normal, she would have to see her family - and her family, in this time at least, was her mom, and Noah, apparently. She hadn’t decided what to do about Noah yet but she could make a decision about her mom, whom she loved, despite the arguing and pestering.</p><p>Her mother finally came to the door, relief palpable in the air as she exclaimed, “Lucy!” She was enveloped into her mother’s arms before she knew what was happening. She initially stiffened but then fell into the embrace. It was nice to be held by her mom. It had been such a long time. She blinked back a sudden deluge of tears at remembering her mom, the one who had given her Amy, who had spent over a year hooked up to the wall, barely conscious.</p><p>“Oh, Lucy,” her mom said, drawing away but still holding her firmly by the shoulders. “Where have you been?” she demanded. “Noah and I have been so worried!” Lucy swallowed.</p><p>“I told Noah, Mom, two days ago. I’ve been staying at a friend’s, from Stanford.”</p><p>Her mom shook her head. “Don’t lie to me, Lucy. You won’t even give us a name. Noah is worried that you- that you have another man.” Her mother said this in a low tone, as though somebody was listening.</p><p>With a sigh, Lucy said, “Can I come in?”</p><p>“Of course!” Her mom’s tone was affronted. Lucy closed her eyes briefly. It was like she could not do a thing right. She followed her mom into the living room. It looked different, stiffer, less Amy. Lucy swallowed. This was why she had been nervous at returning. It was why Wyatt had been worried for her. “Lucy, I won’t love you any less if you have another man.”</p><p>Lucy looked at her mother incredulously. She supposed that her mother would be incredibly hypocritical to think something of Lucy cheating, given that she must have cheated on her dad - on Henry Wallace. Or maybe they’d lied to Lucy about what year they got married. She swallowed that insecurity down. One thing at a time.</p><p>“I just think that you need to think carefully about everything that Noah has given you. That man loves you so completely. You needed that after-” her mother cut herself off with a clearing of her throat.</p><p>Lucy narrowed her eyes. “After what?”</p><p>“Well, after Christopher.”</p><p>Lucy’s eyes shot up to her mother. In her timeline, her mother had never known about Lucy’s affair with Christopher, the department chair at Stanford, a married man whom Lucy had fancied herself in love with. It had been a stupid few months that had ended in Lucy being genuinely worried for her career, but it had made her feel in control for a while, until she hadn’t. Amy had been so disappointed when Lucy had told her.</p><p>“I forgot you knew about that,” Lucy lied quietly.</p><p>Her mom gave her a grim smile. “Well, I’ve not forgotten what you were like after all of that. You nearly threw your career away, all for some man. I won’t have you throwing Noah away now, not after this. If there is a man, Lucy, you should end it, now, before Noah knows. He doesn’t ever need to know and you won’t be throwing such a good relationship away.” Lucy’s lips parted.</p><p>She wasn’t going to tell her mom about Wyatt, especially when her relationship with Wyatt was not actually a relationship at all. It was just - well, just sex for the moment, she thought. Sex and friendship. And living together. Lucy shook her head lightly. She did not want to think too deeply into that relationship, lest she lose control over it, and her feelings for it.</p><p>“You could stay here you know,” her mother added when Lucy didn’t respond to her comments. “If you wanted to have a break from Noah, you could stay here and then he needn’t worry about you being unfaithful.”</p><p>Lucy scoffed, looking away. “You are one to talk about being unfaithful,” she said.</p><p>Her mother’s eyes widened. “What on earth do you mean?”</p><p>“My father. Who was he?” she demanded. Her mother opened her lips and then Lucy felt the familiar buzzing of her phone in her bag. She swallowed and pulled it out.</p><p>“Lucy,” her mother sighed, but Lucy had already seen ‘Mason Industries’ on her phone.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Mom. I’m going to have to go. It’s work.”</p><p>“It’s a Saturday,” her mother told her, raising her brows. “Don’t lie to me, Lucy. Is that him?”</p><p>Lucy stifled an irritated sigh. “I’m sorry, okay, Mom? I’ll see you soon.”</p><p>She did not wait for her mother’s reply before she was fleeing the house, her mother’s accusations and the truth of them, to pick up the phone. “Agent Christopher?” she said, propping up the phone with her shoulder. “I’m just getting into the car. What do we know?”</p><p>Lucy arrived at Mason Industries soon after. The roads had been clear so she had arrived with time. She was pulled off by Jiya immediately to get dressed, the word Alamo playing around in her mind. “Is Wyatt here yet?” she asked her as she picked her clothes. Jiya nodded.</p><p>“Yeah, he was already here.”</p><p>She furrowed her brow, turning to look at her but Jiya only shrugged. That was rather suspicious. He’d not said anything about going out while Lucy went to her mom’s. Hurrying, she changed into the relatively comfortable clothes, for going into the past, and dashed to the Lifeboat, exchanging a nod with Agent Christopher.</p><p>Wyatt and Rufus were already in the Lifeboat, a placid smile on Wyatt’s face, rather than his usual severe straight-eyed look, in preparation for the mission. She raised her brows at him and he didn’t respond at all, as though they had not just spent the past two days together. She swallowed her disappointment and sat herself down.</p><p>Feeling like a schoolgirl, she fumbled with the seatbelt on purpose until Wyatt leaned forward and did it for her. “You okay?” she muttered. He smiled at her.</p><p>“So, Alamo, huh?” Rufus said, interrupting them. Or not interrupting them. Lucy wasn’t sure that Wyatt was going to say anything anyway.  “A word synonymous with gory and inescapable death.” Lucy looked down at her lap. “Wyatt, you wanna say something strong and reassuring?”</p><p>A small chuckle came from Wyatt’s lips, not a happy sound despite the smile still on his lips. “Hey, don't look at me. I just got fired.”</p><p>Panic rose in Lucy’s chest. “What?”</p><p>“Yeah. This is gonna be my last mission.” Rufus muttered away to himself as he set up the controls.</p><p>Lucy stared at him, lips parted, eyes wide. “I mean, you…” She cleared her throat. “You seem pretty okay with this.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, I know the guy they're bringing in. He's good. You'll like him better than me.” Lucy narrowed her eyes at that but his face didn’t change, didn’t acknowledge the ridiculous statement he had made, as though Lucy could like someone else, a stranger, better than Wyatt, her friend, her -.</p><p>“Are you serious?” she demanded and that was when she noticed the grenades. She glanced at Rufus and murmured, “What if those go off in here?”</p><p>“They won't. I know what I'm doing.” Lucy exhaled slowly. She trusted him to know what he was doing.</p><p>“Okay, but still,” she said carefully. “You're bringing grenades… to the Alamo?”</p><p>“Well… I get one last shot at Flynn… you better believe I'm gonna take it.” Lucy swallowed. One last shot and then what? Would they send him somewhere else? Somewhere not in San Francisco, back to his base, to another country all together? Wyatt sniffed a laugh. “What are they gonna do? Fire me?”</p><p>His cavalier attitude had Lucy more panicky than calm, although she knew that he was always calm, even under pressure, especially under pressure. If he said that he knew what he was doing, then he probably did. And, for all Lucy knew, he had come up with a plan to stay. Either that, or he was happy to go, to leave them, with some stranger. Or he trusted that he was good enough to get Flynn.</p><p>That was a funny thought, going back to normal. Agent Christopher would let her get her sister back. Perhaps Wyatt would come with her on that mission. He wanted her to have her sister back and she didn’t trust anybody else.</p><p>She felt Wyatt’s knee knock into hers and she looked up, finding at last some emotion in his eyes, even if it was only concern for her. “It’s gonna be okay,” he said. “This new guy is good. He’ll look after you guys.”</p><p>Irrationally, anger surged in Lucy’s chest. She turned her face away sharply. If that was what he thought was the issue, he could go to hell. Clearly, he had been in a different place for the past few days than she had been.</p><p>XXX</p><p>The Alamo was just as horrifying as Lucy had read about and it was made worse by the fact that Wyatt was - Wyatt was suffering and Lucy couldn’t help him. He’d been weird all day, suddenly stopping, staring into space, snapping at her about everything, all day long, and then- and then she’d heard him talking to Colonel Bowie.</p><p>She hadn’t meant to overhear and she hadn’t wanted to. She hadn’t wanted to force him to tell her that way. She wanted him to tell her things because he trusted her, like she trusted him. She knew he trusted her. He’d told her as much in Germany, with Ian Fleming, had trusted her over his agreement with Fleming.</p><p>His trust meant the world. His trust in her gave her trust in herself.</p><p>She wished that her trust in him gave him the boost that he needed, but it wasn’t enough. God, she had heard him, being completely negative to Colonel Bowie, condemning all of the men, as though he didn’t know that what men needed in these scenarios was hope. Lucy knew that he knew that. She’d not understood what was happening until he was telling Colonel Bowie about Syria, right in front of her.</p><p>“How’s the letter coming?” snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up to find Wyatt and Rufus watching her. She parted her lips, wetting them with her tongue, and stood so that she was on a level with them.</p><p>“It's not. I'm having the world's worst case of writer's block. I know that there's something about ‘patriotism’ and ‘liberty’ and ‘American character.’” Lucy shook her head. “I think.”</p><p>“You don't know? You're the historian,” Rufus said incredulously.</p><p>Lucy’s eyes widened. “Yeah, believe it or not, I have not memorized every single letter ever written in the history of time, and this letter, if I don't get every single word exactly right…” she trailed off.</p><p>Hand on his forehead, Wyatt spoke up, “It's just a letter.” Lucy set her jaw.</p><p>“It's not just a letter. It's the letter that created Texas. No pressure or anything!”</p><p>Lucy saw that Wyatt was about to snap before he did. “For God sakes. You're in your own head. Just write something. Anything. It doesn't have to be exact.”</p><p>Inhaling, Lucy said, “Oh, I can just say whatever I want, like you did with Bowie?”</p><p>“Yes,” Wyatt said, his voice loud and annoyed. “You say what's in here. Quit pretending. All this dress-up and the grade school drama and the "we're from San Felipe." I-”</p><p>Lucy cut him off, “That's the job. That's my job.”</p><p>“No, the job is Flynn!” Wyatt roared. Lucy half-turned away. “And I cannot do it with all of this crap!” His angry face crumpled. “How am I supposed to do my job with my hands tied behind my back?” He shook his head and Lucy’s irritation died away, replaced with sympathy. “You know what, maybe Agent Christopher was right. Maybe I'm not the guy for the job. I'm sorry.”</p><p>Lucy’s shoulders slumped, watching Wyatt make for the door. “Wyatt…”</p><p>His shoulders tensed, his jaw twitching. Lucy strode over to him, saw what he was looking at, at the battlefield that was the Alamo. She glanced at him, half-wincing at what must be going through his mind. She wondered what he saw and reached her hand out to touch his forearm, to bring him back. Before she could, he was running out of the door. </p><p>“Wyatt!” Lucy screamed. Rufus’ arms were on her, around her, before she even realised she’d been moving, towards him. She watched him, eyes wide, heart in her throat, as he sped across to where rubble had collapsed. He froze and Lucy panted out his name again, fighting Rufus’ hold on her but he was deceptively strong.</p><p>Wyatt started moving again and he was digging through the rubble. Lucy’s chest rose and fell rapidly, with each sound of gunfire or cannon, each cry in the distance, or closer.</p><p>But then Wyatt was moving towards her, a boy in his arms and Lucy’s heart slowed, some. He reached her and met her eyes for a split second before shoving past her into the room, where he could lie down the boy and have him treated. Lucy retreated back to the office where she was trying to write the letter.</p><p>She sat for a moment, leaning her hands on the table and just breathed, closing her eyes and reminding herself of the facts, of their safety, of the simplicity of her task. She just had to write the letter. Wyatt was right. Wyatt could run into the path of danger and come out with success. Lucy could write a letter.</p><p>And then she was writing a letter, not the letter, but her letter, about American character and bravery and heroes and then she was signing it. It was done. Her shoulders fell with the relief of it, her eyes closed.</p><p>“You have a good man, in your Wyatt, miss.” Lucy’s eyes opened abruptly. She found Colonel Bowie in front of her, watching her with a sad smile. “I wish I could give you a chance to be together, to get married.” Lucy looked at her ring finger but found it empty. Colonel Bowie chuckled. “I’m sorry you won’t get that, miss, but I’m sure he meant to.”</p><p>Lucy laughed lightly. “He is a good man, a brave man.”</p><p>Colonel Bowie ducked his head. “We’ll fight as hard as we can, ma’am, but I can’t guarantee you a future. You should go and -” he sighed “- you should come and say goodbye.” Lucy’s heart sped as she realised that writing the letter had not been the end of this mission, though it had been her goal. They were still trapped in the Alamo.</p><p>XXX</p><p>With a boom, Rufus had freed them, with the very grenades that Lucy hadn’t wanted Wyatt to bring, and they had somewhere to get the women and children free. Lucy was nearly crying with relief as she rushed to the door, with the objective of finding Wyatt.</p><p>Outside was mayhem. What had come earlier was a warning. Coming through the one wall were horses, with their soldiers on their backs, and their guns and Lucy had to gulp down her terror. She could find Wyatt and get him to Rufus and they would be free of this, of all of this and they could go home and be safe.</p><p>She found him quicker than she’d expected and dashed wildly to him, finding him wide-eyed again, like he’d been earlier. She reached up and cupped his cheek once. He flinched back away from her and she watched him recognise her. She smiled. “Rufus did it,” she said. “Come on, let’s go.”</p><p>Lucy stood to turn but Wyatt dragged her back down under cover, saving her from gunfire which would have taken her out. She swallowed her fear, turning back to him. “We have to go, now,” she told him. He looked away. “Wyatt. Wyatt!”</p><p>“I’m not going,” he said, turning back to her and looking into her eyes. Lucy’s heart jumped into her throat. She leaned backwards slightly.</p><p>“What? No. What do you mean?”</p><p>“You don't need me,” he said, his mouth almost in a smile. He half-shrugged. “They're getting rid of me anyway, right?”</p><p>Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat. “You can't stay here. Everybody dies.”</p><p>She knew what he was going to say before he said it. “I know.” Lucy shook her head, her eyes wet. She cupped his cheek again, tried to bring him closer, but he shook his head. “I can't leave good men like this, not again.”</p><p>Lucy closed her eyes briefly. She knew this was hard for him, knew that it was just like Syria, all over again, knew that he felt like it was all his fault but- “No. No, Wyatt.”</p><p>“What difference does it make?” he asked. “I don’t have anybody to come back to. Let me do one good thing. Let me buy you the time to get out.” Lucy let out a sob.</p><p>“What about us?” she pleaded. “We're counting on you.”</p><p>“The next guy's gonna handle it,” he said as though she wanted a soldier, a new soldier.</p><p>She shook her head. “No, Wyatt. I don't want anybody else.” She cupped the other side of his face. “I trust you, okay? You are the one that I trust. I want you. I need you. Rufus needs you. I need you.” She saw the moment she had got through to him, saw his eyes clear, and she leaned forward to kiss him, softly, only once. “Okay?” He nodded, his face still in her hands.</p><p>Lucy extracted her hands. He placed a hand on her back. “Get ready to run.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy and Wyatt dashed into the room, closing the doors behind them. They found Rufus helping the women and children through the chute to the aqueduct. He smiled at their entrance. Wyatt was reminded that he was needed. He repeated Lucy’s words to himself again. She trusted him. She wanted him, she needed him. He was trusted, wanted, needed. He was not alone.</p><p>His heart raced still; his brain was still trying to convince him that he was in Syria, that his friends were still dying around him, but they weren’t truly. His friends - and Rufus and Lucy were his friends - were right here, and they were going to save each other.</p><p>“Wyatt,” Lucy’s voice at his shoulder said. She passed him the letter she had written. Wyatt blinked at it. “You have to convince him to come,” she said, nodding at the boy, John, that Wyatt had saved earlier. “He has to deliver this letter. He is going to be the first mayor of San Antonio.” Wyatt nodded, meeting her eyes and wanting to kiss her, wanting to thank her. Instead, he did as she had asked.</p><p>“You have to deliver this,” he told John, crouching at his side.</p><p>“The hell I do,” John snarled. “I'm not gonna leave the only family I have left.”</p><p>Wyatt closed his eyes and opened them. “I get it. Believe me.” Wyatt saw the men he’d left behind to die. He could see them right there in front of him. “Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is to do the job. To be the only one to have to leave. But you have to.” Wyatt swallowed and looked into John’s eyes. “Those are the orders.”</p><p>John nodded shakily. “Yes, sir.” Wyatt let out a sigh of relief. He found Lucy watching him fondly, Rufus in the hole leading to their escape. His mouth twitched upwards at her.</p><p>Wyatt helped John down into the chute too and then Rufus disappeared. Lucy slid into the hole, half her body still visible. Wyatt smiled. “Lucy,” he called back. She smiled at him.</p><p>“Thank you,” she said, nodding to the space where John had disappeared. He shook his head but turned as the door opened, his hand going to his gun. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Colonel Bowie and Davy Crockett, stumbling in.</p><p>Turning, Wyatt cupped Lucy’s face. “Go on,” he told her. “I’m right behind you.” She reached up to kiss him, once, twice, and then left.</p><p>Wyatt turned to the men who had become legends in his state. Colonel Bowie shook his head. “Go on, Sergeant. You deserve a chance with that girl of yours.” Wyatt glanced at the hole where Lucy had disappeared. He met Colonel Bowie’s eyes. “I can’t go. These are my people but you have to. Be with yours.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Bam Bam,” Wyatt said fondly, clapping his fellow soldier by the hand as he reached him in the locker room. He looked as well as ever.</p><p>“Wyatt Logan,” Baumgardner said in response. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>Wyatt chuckled. “Heard you were stealing our oxygen.”</p><p>“Well, they dragged me up from Pendleton, won't tell me crap, and now they're flying me back. I don't suppose you know what's going on.”</p><p>With a grin, Wyatt said, “What do you think?” Baumgardner smiled. “It's good seeing you,” Wyatt said honestly.</p><p>“You too.” Baumgardner turned away but then turned back. “Hey, when are you coming back to base? We're prepping for an op right now. It's the real deal. Robbie's there, Matty, all the boys. You'd love it.”</p><p>Wyatt smiled, remembering Lucy and Rufus refusing to work without him, to fight Flynn without him. “Yeah, I think I'll be here for a while.” He heard Lucy call his name from the stairs. Baumgardner’s eyes flew up. Wyatt smirked. “I got a new team.”</p><p>Baumgardner held his hands up. “Fair enough. Sounds like someone’s waiting for you.”</p><p>Wyatt swallowed. Someone waiting for him. What a concept. “Yeah,” he sighed. “I’ll see you soon, Bam Bam.”</p><p>“Yeah, stay safe, Wyatt.” With that, Wyatt turned and made his way back up the stairs to where Lucy was waiting for him.</p><p>“Ready?” she asked. Wyatt smiled. She had changed back into her comfortable clothes and cleaned her face of any makeup that remained after the heat of the Alamo. He smiled and approached, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.</p><p>“Yeah, let’s go, ma’am.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Wyatt,” Lucy said, digging into the meal that he had made them. It was pasta, with homemade tomato sauce, and Wyatt knew it was delicious, but Lucy was only picking at it.</p><p>“Hmm? What’s up?”</p><p>“I just-” She swallowed audibly. “I’m just sorry that I overheard earlier.” Her countenance was awkward. Wyatt smiled. “I didn’t want it to look like I was eavesdropping. I know I’m a bit- well, I just didn’t want you to think I was that nosy. It was an accident.”</p><p>Wyatt reached across the table to take her hand. “Lucy, it’s okay. I know.”</p><p>She shrugged. “I also wanted to say that, if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here and happy to listen.” Wyatt smiled, squeezing her hand and releasing it for her to eat. “God knows you’ve listened to me enough times.”</p><p>Wyatt grinned. “Speaking of, how is your mom?”</p><p>Lucy groaned. “Don’t. She asked me if I had another man.” Wyatt felt the smirk playing at his lips.</p><p>“Oh yeah?”</p><p>“Mmhmm,” she said, sipping at her wine. “She said that I should move back in with her to save the best relationship I’ve ever had.” Lucy sighed. “And then she brought up things that I was not aware I had ever told her, but which were enough to make me realise that this Lucy is the same as me.”</p><p>Wyatt furrowed his brow. “Like what?” Lucy physically cringed. Wyatt grinned, picking up his beer. “What did you do?”</p><p>“I had an affair with my department chair, a few years ago, when I started at Stanford.” Wyatt’s eyes went wide, his mouth gaping. Lucy gave him an uneasy smile. “He was married,” she added. Wyatt choked and then swallowed. “It was a mistake, obviously, but, apparently, I told my mom about it or she found out about it. I don’t know. I didn’t even tell Amy until she found out in the real timeline.”</p><p>“You had an affair with a married man?”</p><p>Lucy nodded. “There’s no rationale that I can give you to make it better, but at least you know the full story.”</p><p>“We all make mistakes, Lucy.” Wyatt cocked his head at her. Her cheeks were slightly flushed. “Thank you for telling me.”</p><p>Lucy smiled, looking down at her food. “Well, I know you won’t think badly of me, in the long run anyway.”</p><p>“I don’t think badly of you.”</p><p>“Good,” Lucy said, grinning and digging into her pasta now. Wyatt grinned too. “I trust you.”</p><p>“And I trust you.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Watergate Tape</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So this is our third morning of no missions. Do you think Flynn wants to give us a break?” Wyatt asked. Lucy chuckled, pressing the side of her face into his chest. They’d long since given up on Wyatt sleeping on the couch so this was the sight that she woke up to every morning, a sleepy, messy Wyatt, almost always entirely naked, just like her.</p><p>Wyatt wrapped an arm around her, drawing her closer. “Hmm,” she sighed. “I hardly think Flynn is thinking about our mental states.”</p><p>“I was thinking more about our physical states,” Wyatt said, cupping her cheek as he kissed her slowly, “and -” he punctuated each word with a kiss “- this lovely break giving us the time to -”</p><p>Lucy cut him off with a carefree laugh as she jumped on top of his chest, one leg on either side of him. Wyatt grinned and leaned up to kiss her more. He didn’t leave her on top for long. In a smooth motion that Lucy had yet to discover how he accomplished, he spun them around, pinning her beneath him. Lucy arched her back as he kissed his way down to her breasts and then her belly button.</p><p>“Wyatt, I-” she was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing. She reached blindly for it and picked it up without noting who was calling. “Hello?” she said into it. Wyatt, his body between her legs and his lips pressed to the front of her hip, looked up at her incredulously.</p><p>“Lucy,” the voice on the other side of the phone said, the voice male and full of relief. “Lucy, please, I want to see you. We need to talk.” It was Noah.</p><p>Lucy pulled the phone away from her face and looked between the screen and Wyatt who was smirking wolfishly between her legs. Lucy’s eyes were wide. “Lucy?” the disembodied voice said.</p><p>“Go on, Lucy,” Wyatt murmured. “Respond.”</p><p>And he gave her one full second before diving in between her legs with lips, tongue and teeth. It took everything in Lucy not to cry out his name. Panting, she said, “Noah- I’m - I’m going to have to--” and then she hung up the phone. “That was a dirty trick, Wyatt,” she groaned, throwing her phone to the other side of the bed. Wyatt responded by looking up at her with devilish blue eyes, just as he licked a long line back to front.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“This is weird,” Wyatt commented on the fourth day of their not having any work. “Don’t you think this is suspicious?”</p><p>Lucy had her head in his lap. They were watching a Bond movie - not the one that they starred in; that one was disturbing and quite irritating when they really analysed it - and had been all day. They’d started at the beginning when Lucy had admitted that she had only seen the Daniel Craig movies. It had taken a while for her to convince him to talk to her again - but she had her ways.</p><p>“Even evil maniacs have to have days off,” Lucy said, her pretty brown eyes looking up at him, “but four in a row does seem excessive.”</p><p>“He’s such a dick that I wouldn’t be surprised if he was doing this on purpose, to screw with us.”</p><p>Lucy chuckled. Wyatt brushed some hair away from her face, tangling a strand around his finger. “Well, as long as it lasts,” Lucy said with a smile, “I’ll make the most of your food.”</p><p>Wyatt scoffed, a grin playing at his lips. “As if that’s all you’re making the most of.”</p><p>Lucy smirked, sitting up. She leaned across and pressed a lingering kiss to his jaw. Wyatt glanced at the screen. He really wanted to watch this film but Lucy was - “You have your own Bond girl right here and you would rather watch Honor Blackman?”</p><p>Wyatt growled, turning away from the screen to capture her lips in his. She groaned into his mouth. “I thought we weren’t allowed to call you a Bond girl?”</p><p>Lucy shook her head. “No, you aren’t allowed to call me a Bond girl. I’m allowed to call me whatever the hell I want.”</p><p>“Yes, ma’am,” Wyatt said in low tones. He watched her eyes darken - she did like being called ma’am he knew it - and then she was on top of him, yet again. At some point, they would get through an entire Bond film.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Do you even like Bond films?” Wyatt asked later that day, lying naked on the couch. Lucy tugged the blanket down over them. She didn’t like being naked with nothing over the top of her. Wyatt did not mind it and he certainly did not mind Lucy being entirely uncovered, but he respected her wishes. The Bond film was playing in the background - Thunderball - but they had missed over half an hour of it, due to Lucy’s antics.</p><p>Lucy laughed. “I do!” she protested.</p><p>“Hmm,” Wyatt said suspiciously. “I think you just like Daniel Craig. That’s why you’ve only watched the recent ones, so that you only have to watch him.”</p><p>“He is quite pleasant to watch,” Lucy conceded. Wyatt reached around to pinch her bum and she squeaked before scowling at him. Wyatt grinned, leaving his hand there. Having Lucy lying on top of him was his favourite thing - and James Bond was playing in the background. It was like he’d been gifted something from the heavens. How could he have even considered giving this up at the Alamo?</p><p>“Do you prefer Casino Royale or Skyfall?”</p><p>“What if I say Quantum of Solace is my favourite?”</p><p>“Then I will kick you out of my flat.”</p><p>Laughter bubbled out of Lucy. Wyatt grinned. She rested her head on his shoulder. “I like Skyfall a lot.”</p><p>“Me too,” Wyatt agreed. “Let’s watch that one next.”</p><p>“Hmm, wonderful.”</p><p>“If you admire Daniel Craig too much, I will start feeling very insecure,” Wyatt warned her. Lucy raised her brows at him.</p><p>“I’m not sure. That ego of yours could use being taken down a few pegs,” Lucy teased, tapping the side of his head. Wyatt couldn’t help but kiss her.</p><p>“You should talk to the smart, funny and beautiful woman I’m fucking about that. Every time she touches me, my ego grows even more.”</p><p>Lucy grinned, tapping his side. “You’re soft.”</p><p>“Only because you’ve used me so much.” Lucy seemed shocked by her laughter escaping her mouth and Wyatt grinned, tightening his arms around her. “It’s all your fault.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder and Wyatt turned his eyes back to the screen.</p><p>Ten minutes later, the credits were rolling. “What do you think Rufus does in his spare time?” Wyatt asked, grabbing the remote to get Skyfall up. He glanced at the clock but it was only four. He didn’t need to start cooking yet.</p><p>Lucy shrugged. “I assume he plays video games and moons over Jiya.” Wyatt snorted.</p><p>“You think he’ll ever ask her out?”</p><p>“Rufus?” Lucy said incredulously. “No, he is too awkward. She will have to make the first move.”</p><p>“Give her a hint next time she’s tightening your corset.” Lucy grimaced.</p><p>“Hopefully never, then. I hate wearing a corset.”</p><p>“A shame, really.” That earned him a tap on the side. Wyatt found Skyfall but paused before turning it on. “What do you think he would think about this?”</p><p>“About us watching James Bond naked? I don’t think he’d be a fan.”</p><p>Wyatt glared at Lucy and she smiled innocently. He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. About this, about the fact that you’re here.”</p><p>Lucy sighed. “I try not to think about it. I figure he’d be pissed.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Wyatt clicked Skyfall on. “You’re right. We shouldn’t think about it.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy arrived after Wyatt. He furrowed his brows at her but she didn’t look at him. He wondered whether her mom had told her who her father was or not, what she had done with that information. He wasn’t sure what her facial expressions meant but she was certainly not happy, not as happy as they had been for the past five days anyway.</p><p>It had been like living in a dream, after coming back from the Alamo. He’d woken up with Lucy in his arms every morning and had spent almost every waking moment with her since. He’d even tried to get her to do his training routine with him each day, which had her groaning and which, inevitably, had them heading back to bed. </p><p>He wasn’t sure he’d ever had so much sex in his life. It was just - different. He and Jess had been together since high school so it was different. It was like he and Lucy just wanted to fuck, all the time, always, where as he and Jess had been in a relationship - a real relationship - before they really knew what they were doing. He didn’t know what to call the relationship he and Lucy shared but, for the past few days, he’d been too happy to care whether they were together or not together, just fucking or in a real relationship. None of it mattered when he was with her, laughing and chatting and having sex.</p><p>And, yes, it was soft. He was fully aware that she turned him to mush when she smiled. He didn’t care. He was utterly carefree around her.</p><p>“Nice suit,” her voice interrupted him. Wyatt half-smirked, turning towards her. She wore a burnt orange jacket and her hair was different, straighter, more styled.</p><p>“You look nice.”</p><p>“That suit really is something.”</p><p>“You can take it off tonight.”</p><p>“We have to return the clothes,” she said but her lips were twitching.</p><p>“How was-”</p><p>“We should go,” she cut him off. “Rufus is waiting.” Wyatt cleared his throat and nodded.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Two hours left,” Flynn said, his voice amused and irritating. Wyatt clenched his jaw, working his wrists to ease the nail out of his chair, slowly, slowly, so that Flynn wouldn’t notice. He would get out and then he could deal with whatever the hell was going on with Lucy, with Lucy’s journal and her meetings through time with Flynn. The last few days felt suddenly poisoned, like he was staring at them through a grey film. “I wonder if your friends are gonna make it.” Friends wasn’t the right word after all.</p><p>“Well, why don't you look in that magical future book. It should tell you,” he snarled.</p><p>“Doesn't say,” Flynn said with a shrug.</p><p>“But it told you to come to 1972?” Wyatt controlled his face as he finally worked the nail out of the chair. He could get free now, as long as he kept Flynn talking.</p><p>“It has an entry on the erased Nixon tape, yes.”</p><p>“So how's this end?” Wyatt asked, doing his best to sound casual. “Do you kill me? Am I rescued? What's the point spread in the next Super Bowl? Who's playing?”</p><p>“I don't know what happens today because the journal doesn't tell me everything. Lucy didn't write about everything. And what is written does sometimes sound crazy, like a different Lucy.”</p><p>“Yeah. Lucy's the one that sounds crazy.”</p><p>“You want to know what she wrote about you?” Wyatt set his jaw. He had no desire to know what past Lucy or future Lucy had to say about him. He knew - he thought he’d known - how present Lucy felt about him. Maybe he was wrong. But it had all been so - so natural, so pure, so wonderful. The way she’d laughed for him, the way she’d curled into him, the way they’d woken up beside one another. “I take it your pilot doesn’t know about your little relationship?” Wyatt swallowed his disgust that anybody other than himself and Lucy knew about it, about the cocoon they’d been living in, the happiness, the laughter. Flynn - Flynn was poisoning it.</p><p>“I love the way he looks at me, she writes,” Flynn said, “like I’m the only woman he’s ever known.” Wyatt closed his eyes. Why - why did she have to keep this from him? He’d told her about Syria, about his divorce. Why couldn’t she have told him this when she’d told him about her affair, about her dad? They could’ve kept it going. “He makes me laugh and smile and being with him makes me feel like I’m on a cloud.” Wyatt’s leg shook. The nail in his hand shook. They could have been happy. She said she trusted him. He had trusted her.</p><p>“Oh and then-” Flynn said, his face smug. The second Wyatt was free - the second - he was going to punch that smug face, slap that smile away. “Then, she writes, I don’t know whether he will ever trust me again.” Wyatt swallowed. It was future Lucy, maybe after this. Flynn flipped a few pages in the journal. “I can’t believe that he would ever cheat on me-” Flynn tutted “- naughty naughty, future Wyatt.”</p><p>Wyatt shook his head. “Shut the hell up.” He would never cheat on her, he would never, not after Jess, not after- he shook his head. It was wrong. The journal was wrong. That’s what Lucy had said. It was all wrong.</p><p>“I never thought I could cheat on him,” Flynn continued. Wyatt felt sick to his stomach.</p><p>“I said shut the hell up,” he growled. Lucy, Lucy. What was going to happen to them? He wouldn’t let it. He wouldn’t let any of it happen to them. He closed his eyes. How could she have done this - how could she have not trusted him? After everything - they’d had so much time, so much time chatting. She could have told him, a million times over she could have told him.</p><p>“These are all figments of your future, Wyatt. Your Lucy, cheating. You, cheating on her, after making her so happy that she felt like she was on a cloud.” Wyatt closed his eyes against it. They’d been happy. God, why did she have to do this? Why could they not have carried on being happy?</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt disappeared seconds after they made their stilted reports. Agent Christopher had made a comment but Wyatt had dismissed it as fatigue, just before he had stormed away. It wasn’t as though Lucy didn’t understand. She had betrayed him, not told him the truth. It was as good as lying in his books and Lucy had known that all along. Wyatt valued truth above anything else. She’d known that when he had thanked her for telling him about her affair with her boss. He appreciated the truth and Lucy liked that. She liked his honour and integrity.</p><p>And, now, she had nothing but regret to feel for ruining things, when things had been so good between her and Wyatt, when they’d had days of bliss, when she’d - well, she’d thought that they were practically in a relationship - like together, together. But she’d - Lucy groaned as she picked up her car keys. She would have to go and stay at her mom’s. She would not be welcome at Wyatt’s that night.</p><p>She rushed and found him leaving. “Wyatt,” she called after him, praying and hoping that he wouldn’t ignore her. She just needed to explain and - explain what? She had known what she was doing, had known that she should tell him but she’d been scared, scared of the person that she was going to become.</p><p>Wyatt stopped and Lucy let out a sigh of relief, hurrying up to him and grabbing him by the elbow to turn him around. The hurt was still palpable on his face. Lucy winced. “Wyatt, I’m sorry,” she said earnestly. “I should have-”</p><p>“You should have told me,” he cut her off with a snarl. “You should have told me that Flynn was targeting you personally. I would have protected you better, not left you alone. You should have told me that Flynn had information on us, had information about us-” Lucy understood his meaning there, that Flynn knew about their relationship, even if she hadn’t known that fact before “- that you’ve spoken to him every time we’ve gone back in time.”</p><p>“Not every time,” Lucy protested weakly.</p><p>Wyatt narrowed his eyes at her. “Did you not think that that would have been good for us to know? We don’t know anything about Flynn. You should have told us, you should have been upfront with us, so that we had the whole picture. You screwed with the mission to protect yourself!”</p><p>His voice was raised. Lucy flinched away from it. “I don’t know what to do, Wyatt! I said that I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry - I’m sorry - I’m sorry, okay? I should have told you but we were so happy-”</p><p>Wyatt cut her off, “Don’t.” Lucy looked away. “That Lucy isn’t this Lucy, okay? That Lucy didn’t lie to me, didn’t keep things from me.”</p><p>“I’m just one person, Wyatt!” she shouted at him.</p><p>Wyatt shook his head. “Maybe this is Noah’s Lucy. Maybe that is who you are in this timeline.”</p><p>“No, Wyatt,” she said and there was a lump in her throat as she reached forward to take his hand and he flinched away from her. “Please, Wyatt, I should have-”</p><p>Wyatt shook his head. “Just- I can’t trust you right now, Lucy, okay? I don’t want to be near you. I don’t want to hear your voice. I - I don’t feel like I know you.”</p><p>Lucy turned away to hide her tears. “What does this mean then?”</p><p>Wyatt shook his head, looking over his shoulder. “It doesn’t mean anything, Lucy. We don’t mean anything.” Lucy physically recoiled from his words.</p><p>“What the hell does that mean?” she asked between ground teeth. He’d made her laugh - she’d woken up beside him - she’d told him about Christopher - it couldn’t mean nothing -</p><p>“If there’s no trust, Lucy, then it was just sex.”</p><p>Lucy blinked to clear her tears. “Fuck you,” she swore, not looking at him. “Fuck you.”</p><p>She walked away quickly, sobs working their way up her throat, but she didn’t get away quick enough to miss the way he roared “Fuck!” and the sound of his fist colliding with something hard.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Stranded</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Are you so desperate not to be alone?</p><p>Lucy swallowed. She moved to twist the engagement ring on her finger, a nervous habit she had picked up and which had only intensified since staying with her mother for the past few days, but she found that she had moved it from her hand. Wyatt’s words and the sneer on his face as he’d seen her wearing it had been enough to remind her to remove it.</p><p>Are you so desperate not to be alone?</p><p>Lucy had never felt as alone in her life as she had the past week. Her sister had gone, lost to time, and her mom was - she wasn’t different, Lucy supposed. This was how she had always been but Lucy had always had Amy to balance her out. Now, she had no one. Lucy looked down at her lap. She’d not had to deal with the pain and loneliness that came with losing her sister, because she’d not been quite alone. She’d had Wyatt. She’d thought she’d had Wyatt.</p><p>It was her fault. She knew that all of this - she looked up briefly, watching Wyatt build the special fire beneath the ground that wouldn’t make smoke - all of this was her fault. The falling out with Wyatt had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her. She’d been so scared of what was in that journal, so scared of her own potential, that she had lied to - withheld the truth from - Wyatt. And it had cost her dearly.</p><p>She’d seen Noah twice in the three days’ reprieve Flynn had given them between Watergate and the jump to 1754. He’d been there when she’d arrived, her eyes red from crying, and he’d ‘comforted’ her. Lucy had not had any clue what to do, how to deal with that, so she had just cried some more. She’d seen him again, two days later, for a date, which had been utterly miserable and awkward and which she bitterly regretted. Afterwards, she hadn’t even had anyone to talk to about it, because her mom was firmly on team Noah and Amy was gone.</p><p>And, now, now they were in 1754, trekking through forests and living off whatever Wyatt could hunt for them. Lucy had never felt so useless. She knew that Wyatt must be thinking they were liabilities and he could do better without them but she had no idea how to help.</p><p>She’d tried to speak to Wyatt, more than once, but he was still so angry. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see the way he had turned his head towards her on the Watergate mission, when he had found out about the journal, about her chats through time with Flynn. And then, worse, she would see the way he had looked at her before that, the way he had kissed her, had spoken to her, and she would have to think of something else to prevent tears slipping down her cheeks.</p><p>Lucy stood and saw both Rufus and Wyatt’s eyes dart to her immediately. She nodded to the river and they both averted their eyesight. It was their code for going to the bathroom. Lucy wandered down, listening carefully in case anybody was in the vicinity. She watched where she was walking, as Wyatt had taught them, to make sure she didn’t step on any branches and snap them. The last thing they needed was to attract the attention of soldiers or natives.</p><p>Lucy loosened her corset, wincing at the red sores that it was rubbing into her sides. She’d been wearing this god awful outfit for three days now. It was the worst possible thing to be wearing to walk through forests, up hills, through precarious passes. It just wasn’t reasonable to be expected to do this, like this, but Lucy couldn’t complain. Wyatt was fed up with their complaining and Rufus, though Lucy understood, could not stop complaining. It was hard, it was horrible, but Rufus’ constant grousing only pissed Wyatt off more.</p><p>And Lucy hated Wyatt being pissed off. She hated not seeing him smile. She hated the hardness in his eyes. This was the longest they had been away on a single mission and it was the most miserable one yet.</p><p>XXX</p><p>And it only got worse. Lucy tipped her head back against the pole that she was tied to. Escape from the French only to be captured by the Indians. It was as though the world wanted them to stay in 1754, forever. Even if they escaped, even if they somehow managed to scrape themselves out of this impossible situation, the Lifeboat was damaged and repairing it seemed like a very far off possibility. They were trapped in 1754, the worst time and place that Lucy could imagine.</p><p>She just kept thinking how much she wanted to go home - and then she would remember that she had nothing to go home to. “You know, if this is really it,” Rufus said, drawing Lucy and Wyatt’s attention, “you know, like, really it…”</p><p>Lucy cut him off, “Don't say that. It's not it.”</p><p>Rufus shook his head and said what Lucy had been thinking. “Even if we get out of here, there's no telling if we'll actually make it out of 1754.” Lucy swallowed. “I can't stop thinking… what I wouldn't give… for one more Chocodile.”</p><p>Lucy felt her face crease into incredulity. “What?”</p><p>“What the hell is a Chocodile?” It was the least negative thing that Lucy had heard Wyatt say in days, in nearly a week.</p><p>Rufus furrowed his brow. “Twinkie… covered in chocolate.” Lucy snorted and her laughter fell out of her, spurred on by the sound of Wyatt laughing beside her. </p><p>“Rufus, that is monumentally stupid,” he said.</p><p>“Well, clearly, you've never had one before.”</p><p>“No,” Lucy agreed. Their laughter died away slowly and the reality of the situation returned to Lucy. Rufus could never have another chocodile because it looked like they were trapped here.</p><p>“What I wouldn't give to be able to tell Jiya how I feel about her,” Rufus’ quiet voice interrupted Lucy’s defeatist thoughts. She felt her lips turn into a smile, glancing at Wyatt. He was watching Rufus too, his classic half-smile playing at his lips.</p><p>“How do you feel about her?” Lucy asked softly.</p><p>Rufus smiled, a bit goofily. “I like her.” He stopped, laughed a bit and said, “We went on a date once.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah. Super awkward,” Rufus said. Lucy grinned, meeting Wyatt’s eyes. His smile was genuine, not a grin, not laughing at all, but genuinely happy. Lucy’s grin faltered and Wyatt pressed his lips together too, his brow creasing at her. She turned back to Rufus. “ Haven't had the guts to talk to her about it since. I don't know why that, of all things, was so scary to me… just talking to someone.”</p><p>Lucy glanced at Wyatt again but he was watching Rufus. Lucy wondered if he was thinking the same as her: that Rufus wasn’t alone, that he wasn’t the only one who found talking about things so scary. How many times this past week had Lucy wondered how things would have been different if she had told Wyatt how she felt about him, told him that she didn’t just see it as sex, that she wanted more?</p><p>She smiled. “When I was little, my mother used to read to me these biographies for children. It was like... ‘Einstein for Kids.’ ‘Churchill for Kids.’ They were really good, actually.” She found Wyatt smiling at her. Something in her chest loosened. Lucy shook her head. “I guess I just... I always figured that I'd read them to my kids. Just always figured there'd be… time.”</p><p>Wyatt nodded, clearing his throat. Lucy kept her eyes on him. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Jessica always wanted a little boy. And I would always say, ‘Relax. We got all the time in the world.’” Lucy gave him a sad smile. “I’m glad we didn’t, now. I’d hate to raise a child that way, without both parents there. My dad was-” Wyatt shook his head. “It’s best to have two parents, I think.” </p><p>Lucy closed her eyes to stem the swell of tears behind them. “I’m so sorry for lying about Flynn, Wyatt.” Tears slipped out from beneath her eyelids.</p><p>“Please don’t cry, Lucy,” Wyatt said softly. She opened her eyes to find him watching her, his brow slightly creased. Lucy wanted to reach over and squeeze his hand, to touch him, to tell him that they were going to be okay. Instead, she just met his eyes and smiled. When he smiled back, Lucy decided that it would have to be okay. The universe could not screw them like this, not when they were risking their lives to save it.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Fort Duquesne was enemy territory. They had literally walked into enemy territory - but it was just as dangerous as not doing so. The world waiting for them on the outside was full of enemies - too many to count - and diseases, injuries, death. There were no ambulances waiting for them here. The risk of walking into Fort Duquesne was great but the risk of not doing so and possibly never fixing the Lifeboat was greater.</p><p>Thankfully, Lucy could speak French. Admittedly, it was not her strongest subject, but it was good enough and had got them into the camp initially. It was up to Rufus now to hurry and get the things they needed, before the French soldiers returned to tell the others at the fort who they were.</p><p>Glancing around, Lucy let her fingers brush up against Wyatt’s, drawing his attention to her, away from where his eyes were searching for Rufus. He looked at her with concern. “What is it?” She shook her head to deny that there was any immediate danger around them. He relaxed slightly. “You okay?”</p><p>“I just don’t want to fight anymore,” she said softly. Wyatt smiled.</p><p>“Did you introduce me as your brother?” he asked. With a furrowed brow, Lucy nodded. “I thought so, else I’d’ve kissed you.” Lucy’s smile spread widely across her face. She found a matching expression on Wyatt’s face, his eyes creased. “I trust you, Lucy. We’re going to fight whatever Flynn has in that damned journal together, and then get Amy back, together.”</p><p>Lucy breathed in, closing her eyes briefly to enjoy the effect that his words had on her. “Together?” she repeated upon opening her eyes.</p><p>Wyatt brushed their hands together again. The familiar feeling of his skin on hers sent tingles down Lucy’s spine. “Together,” he agreed.</p><p>“Bonjour, Monsieur, Madame,” a voice said from behind them. Lucy spun to find a man whose clothes identified him as the surgeon of the fort. She swallowed. She brushed her elbow against Wyatt’s arm as roughly as she could while being subtle. He gave a tight smile. “Je suis le chirurgien du camp. Je suis ici pour examiner ta blessure.”</p><p>“Malheureusement, il ne peut pas parler,” Lucy said hastily, “mais je suis infirmière et je l’ai déjà examiné. Ca va aller.”</p><p>Lucy grabbed Wyatt’s arm to move him forward but the doctor stopped them before they could move on. Wyatt gave her a frantic look. The doctor did not take no for an answer - because, of course, he didn’t trust women - and they soon found themselves in his tent.</p><p>Listening to him with growing apprehension as he listed off a list of potential maladies and possible cures, Lucy poked Wyatt hard in the side. He looked at her with raised brows. “Hit him,” she whispered.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Lucy widened her eyes, cocking her head towards the surgeon. “Hit. Him.”</p><p>Wyatt’s eyes grew large and he nodded a few times. The second the surgeon turned around, Wyatt hit him with a punch across the nose. Lucy enjoyed seeing his eyes widen and face flush and then she and Wyatt moved. “What the hell was he going to do to me?”</p><p>Cringing, Lucy said, “Trust me you do not want to know. Let’s find Rufus and get the hell out of here.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy raised up to her tiptoes as she looked out at the direction that they had approached from. The French would surely arrive any moment and Rufus was not ready yet. She bounced from toe to heel. She could not wait to get these shoes off, if they got home. When they got home. When they got home.</p><p>The feel of hands around her waist startled her. She had her elbow halfway into Wyatt’s stomach by the time she realised that it was just him and not an assailant. She turned, pressing her hand to her mouth. “Sorry!” she whisper-shouted. Wyatt was cringing as he bent over slightly, his hand pushed into his stomach.</p><p>“Who else would it be?”</p><p>Lucy shook her head, her lips parted. “I don’t know! The French!” Wyatt rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Come here,” he said, standing straight again. Lucy’s smile was small as she allowed herself to be taken into his arms, one of his hands on each hip. They both glanced quickly at Rufus but he was occupied by the capacitor. Wyatt pressed a quick, lingering kiss to her lips and Lucy was already smiling when he pulled away. She had missed this. How could she miss something that she had hardly known for a week?</p><p>“I’m scared, Wyatt,” Lucy admitted.</p><p>Wyatt nodded grimly. “I know, Lucy. I am too. But I trust Rufus, and Jiya too. They are going to get us home. It would be too cruel not to now, after all of this.”</p><p>Lucy reached up to cup his cheek momentarily, enjoying the extra growth at his chin due to lack of shaving. She strained up to kiss him softly and then they pulled away from each other, both eyes going wide. The sound of horses approaching.</p><p>“You ready, Rufus?” Wyatt demanded, striding back into the clearing. Rufus nodded hastily, jumping up.</p><p>“It’s now or never,” he said. When they were in the Lifeboat, being shot at from all sides, Wyatt reached across to Lucy’s lap and intertwined their fingers. Lucy leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together. The Lifeboat failed once and then they were going.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Sorry, we’re late,” Wyatt heard Lucy say as she pulled herself out of the time capsule. He smiled at her but hid it when he saw Rufus watching curiously. “We hit some traffic.” Wyatt followed her closely out, greeting Mason and Agent Christopher with happy smiles. He also tried to greet Jiya, but she was far too focussed on Rufus stumbling out of the Lifeboat.</p><p>Wyatt took advantage of the distraction to catch up to Lucy. He tugged her arm to have her turn around. He pressed a finger to her lips and nodded at Jiya and Rufus who were greeting each other with a wave of a hand each. “Reckon they’ll figure it out?” Lucy whispered. Wyatt grinned down at her.</p><p>“I hope so.” Wyatt wanted everyone to feel the way he was feeling right now, this buoying feeling in his heart. “Come on, professor. I have plans for you.” Lucy’s smile was almost a smirk as she raised her brows. “What are you thinking? I want to watch Diamonds are Forever.”</p><p>Lucy scowled. “You’re the worst.”</p><p>“Mmhmm,” Wyatt agreed, tugging her further into the corridor and kissing her. “And yet you’re going to come home with me.”</p><p>Lucy nodded, biting her lip as she looked up at him. “Well, maybe I have plans for you, Master Sergeant.” Wyatt’s eyes widened dramatically. Lucy giggled and wiggled her eyebrows. Wyatt cleared his throat and nodded to the end of the corridor where the wardrobe dock was.</p><p>“Shall we, ma’am?”</p><p>“We shall,” Lucy agreed. Her grin was so wide that Wyatt could feel it in his stomach. He had to grin back.</p><p>They drove back to Wyatt’s apartment in separate cars, as they had arrived days ago, but with lighter hearts and clearer minds. Together, together. Wyatt’s mind panted it at him. He’d not been ‘together’ with anybody since his divorce. Lucy and Rufus were his team, now, and Lucy was his - his together. His girlfriend. Wyatt grinned at the road ahead. He could not wait to get home and hold Lucy, to force her to watch James Bond films and enjoy the way that she tried to distract him from them.</p><p>As per usual, Wyatt arrived at his apartment earlier than Lucy. She was a slow driver, cautious. He took the stairs up, rather than the lift, as though he had not had enough exercise over the past few days, trekking through forests and fighting off the French. Inside, he headed over to the kitchen, a sudden spur of inspiration having him pull his phone out. He searched on Amazon for what he wanted, then left his phone on the side while he started to prepare dinner.</p><p>Lucy was only minutes behind him. Her knock was tentative and her face surprised when he opened the door. “I thought I’d beat you,” she said, “when you weren’t downstairs.”</p><p>“I was starting dinner.” Lucy smiled appreciatively.</p><p>“I am starving.”</p><p>Wyatt grinned and pulled her inside, kissing her with his hand cupping her jaw. She beamed up at him when he pulled away. Kicking the door shut behind her, Lucy followed him into the kitchen. “Hey, look what I found. I’m gonna order them for Rufus.” Wyatt showed her the box of chocodiles that he’d found to order. Lucy barked out a laugh.</p><p>“Use my prime and they’ll come tomorrow,” she told him. Wyatt smiled, agreeing, and she pulled her phone out. He watched her for a moment and then pulled her close, even while she was ordering the chocodiles. “Hey,” she protested, laughing. “I thought you were making my dinner.”</p><p>Wyatt pressed his lips lightly to the side of her head. “I missed you.”</p><p>She looked up at him, pretty brown eyes wide and sad. “I missed you too.”</p><p>“Don’t leave, okay?”</p><p>Lucy blinked. He saw her fingers still on the order of Rufus’ gift. “What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.</p><p>Wyatt swallowed. “I know that I’m reckless and a hothead but I think this is right. You should stay here, for- for at least as long as we’re fighting Flynn.” Lucy’s lips parted. “We don’t know- we don’t know what is going to happen next. I want to spend every moment I can with you.”</p><p>Lucy smiled, one phone coming away from her phone to cup his cheek. “Of course.”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah,” she said and then her genuine smile turned teasing. “I’d hate to have to find someone else to cook my dinner.”</p><p>Wyatt scowled and tightened his hands around her waist, picking her up. She screeched and Wyatt grinned. “Wyatt! Wyatt! I’m going to drop my phone!”</p><p>He spun her around and placed her on the kitchen counter. Lucy was grinning exasperatedly at him, her hair everywhere. She looked so beautiful. “I should make dinner.” Lucy leaned in to kiss him.</p><p>“Yes, please,” she said, shoving him away with a soft hand on his chest and a grin on her lips.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Last Ride of Bonnie and Clyde</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Lucy’s coming,” Rufus greeted Wyatt as he walked into the large room with the computers, where the Lifeboat was waiting. Wyatt forced his face not to react. This was their second mission since being ‘together’ and Wyatt liked to think that they had been quite subtle. Admittedly, they had spent most of the Space Race mission apart but, still, they were doing quite well, particularly since, during their time off from these missions, the only thing they were doing was fucking.</p><p>“You thinking of a suave way to check her out so she won’t notice?”</p><p>Wyatt’s head spun so fast that his neck cricked. He found Rufus watching him, that irritating amused grin at his lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”</p><p>Rufus rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay, watch this,” he said, nodding at Jiya who was approaching, a sure sign that Lucy was, indeed, coming soon. Rufus cocked one hip to the right and looked Jiya up and then down with much exaggeration. Wyatt narrowed his eyes skeptically.</p><p>“Ah-ha!” Jiya cried. “That is so Wyatt!”</p><p>Scowling, Wyatt said, “You can both piss off.”</p><p>Lucy did arrive moments later, her head popping around the corner, phone pressed to her ear. She pulled it away and pressed her hand against the speaker. “It’s Noah,” she called. “I’ll be two minutes.” Wyatt scowled.</p><p>Rufus and Jiya shared a look. “Who’s Noah?” Jiya asked.</p><p>“Her fiancé,” Wyatt grunted. Jiya’s eyebrows flew up. “There’s a ring on her finger.”</p><p>“She still hasn’t ended things with that poor guy?”</p><p>He heard a strangled noise from around the corner, from which Lucy popped her head and pressed her finger to her lips and pointed harshly at them. Wyatt gestured wildly at Jiya, to try and show Lucy that his opinion was not strange and that he was not alone in it. She made a gesture with her hand like she was shoving him away and disappeared again around the corner.</p><p>“You got some strong feelings on that, Wyatt?” Rufus asked knowingly. Wyatt pressed his lips into a firm line, turning back to Rufus and Jiya. Their smirks were matching. He narrowed his eyes.</p><p>“What’s that word they use when a man thinks a woman should be with him and isn’t?” Jiya said, tapping her chin dramatically. Wyatt scoffed, looking away.</p><p>“I think it’s called jealousy, Jiya,” Rufus said, faking astonishment.</p><p>“What’s that word they use when a man likes a woman and a woman likes a man but they haven’t told their boss that they’re fucking?” Wyatt asked, copying Rufus’ tone and Jiya’s dramatic chin tapping. Their smirks fell off their face, and jumped to Wyatt’s.</p><p>“Did it happen?” Lucy’s excited voice came from behind him. She pressed her phone into Jiya’s hand, presumably for Jiya to put away. “Did it happen?” Jiya opened her mouth and then held up the phone, shaking it and then walking away. Lucy and Wyatt turned their smirks to Rufus, who spluttered and walked away. Lucy grabbed Wyatt’s arm tightly with both hands and grinned up at him. He smiled down at her. “It happened.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“How’d he do it for you?” Bonnie asked. Lucy opened her mouth, blinked and then saw where Bonnie was looking, her eyebrows raised. She swallowed her regret and glanced at Wyatt, finding his jaw tight. She knew very well that he hated when she wore this ring but she only wore it for her mom and she had been to her mom’s that morning, for a coffee with her. She’d just not taken the ring off. “Come on, you can’t’ve forgotten a thing like that.”</p><p>Lucy’s eyes widened. “Of course not,” she said, her brain whirring. “Well - he-”</p><p>“We were on this job,” Wyatt interrupted. Lucy turned surprised eyes to him. Bonnie and Clyde were watching him too and Lucy bit her lip. He was a better liar than her, like this, under pressure. “We were on this job together and we’d had a bit of trouble that we thought we weren’t gonna get out of.” Lucy’s brow creased. “And, when it looked like it was gonna turn south, I was just looking at her, you know, and I realised how miserable I was when I wasn’t with her.”</p><p>Lucy blinked, her shoulders falling. She smiled at him. “Our buddy rescued us but we had to run away, real fast or the cops were gonna get us. They were on our backs and we were waiting for our buddy to hotwire the car, watching out for the cops, you know? She was sort of bouncing up and down on her feet - she always does that when she’s nervous - and I just looked at her and I just wanted to be with her so-” Wyatt shrugged “- I just asked her, there and then.”</p><p>“And?” Bonnie asked, her voice quiet and on edge. Lucy turned to them, swallowing the lump in her throat.</p><p>She shrugged lightly, smiling. “I said yes,” she said, holding up the ring and looking back at Wyatt. She reached for him, awkwardly, her hand on his opposite cheek, but she pulled him to her and kissed him lightly, tasting absinthe on his tongue.</p><p>“That’s a mighty big rock,” Clyde commented.</p><p>Lucy laughed, a bit nervously. “I didn’t need this big one,” she said, looking at Wyatt and exaggerating the girly grin she put on her face, “but he likes to spoil me.”</p><p>Clyde laughed loudly, holding up his drink to Wyatt, who did the same in response. “To true love,” Clyde called. Lucy felt her stomach in her throat.</p><p>“To true love,” Wyatt said in response and then he finished his drink in one. Lucy did the same, feeling it burn down her throat.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Okay, so Henry Ford was Rittenhouse,” Lucy said, pacing in the kitchen. Wyatt nodded stiffly. </p><p>“How far back do these dicks go?” Lucy shook her head. Wyatt grabbed her by the arm to stop her pacing. “What does the Latin mean, on the key? You can read Latin?”</p><p>Lucy nodded. “It means ‘The Key to the Beginning of All Time’ and ‘The Key to the End of All Time’.” Wyatt felt his nose wrinkle.</p><p>“Oh, boy, that’s not disturbing at all.” Lucy nodded emphatically. “Right, okay, how long until these two get ambushed?” he asked, nodding at the other room.</p><p>“I don't know; 11 hours, I think.” Wyatt nodded, stroking his chin.</p><p>“I don't like the way Clyde is twirling that gun.” Lucy shook her head, her features tight with anxiety. “They’re drunk. They'll pass out soon enough. As soon as they fall asleep, we grab the key, find Rufus, and get the hell out of here.”</p><p>“Agreed,” Lucy said with a sigh. She turned her eyes to him, a flash of amusement in them. “Sweetheart.”</p><p>Wyatt grinned, cupping her cheek and kissing her. “Babydoll.”</p><p>“How unprofessional of us,” Lucy teased. Wyatt rolled his eyes and pulled her closer. “Oh, no, Wyatt, what happened to not breaching professionalism?” She put a straight face on, as though pretending to be him. Wyatt had suggested this, using the word ‘professionalism’, before the Space Race mission.</p><p>“Shut up,” Wyatt growled before covering her lips with his. He felt her swing her arms around his neck and her giggle against his lips, giving his tongue full access to her mouth.</p><p>“I told you they’d be fucking, Clyde,” Bonnie’s voice crowed to pull them apart. Wyatt’s eyes widened as he released Lucy. She pressed the pads of her fingers to her lips. Wyatt smirked.</p><p>“Sorry,” Wyatt said unapologetically.</p><p>“No apologies needed,” Clyde said. “I get it,” and he pinched Bonnie’s ass. Wyatt snorted at Bonnie’s wide-eyed look, her lips parting. Wyatt turned to look at Lucy, amused, and found her shining eyes were already on him.</p><p>XXX</p><p>It was literally hours later that they got to bed, after drinking with Bonnie and Clyde. “How are you so sober?” Lucy complained as she fell into bed beside him. Wyatt grabbed her and pulled her close, kissing her once - and then again - before letting her cuddle into his side.</p><p>“Threw most of the shots over my shoulder.”</p><p>“Fuck you,” Lucy said without feeling. Wyatt grinned and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You think they’ll think we’re prudes if we don’t fuck?”</p><p>Wyatt snorted. “They can think we’re prudes if they want. They’re going hard enough for all of us.” Lucy laughed, pressing her face into his shoulder blade. “Can you believe them?”</p><p>“I know,” she said but she was smiling and Wyatt had meant it in a skeptical way. “What, sweetheart? You don’t believe in that lightning bolt, love at first sight thing?”</p><p>Wyatt chuckled, pulling her closer. “That’s what I had with Jess.” Lucy propped her chin up on his shoulder. He could smell the absinthe on her breath and smiled. “Lightning bolt and I was in love with her. By the end, it was just the rain.” Lucy reached up to cup his cheek and he leaned into it, kissing her palm. “Lightning bolts don’t last.”</p><p>“What happened?” Lucy whispered. Wyatt furrowed his brow. “With your divorce. I mean, why did you- If you don’t want to -”</p><p>“She cheated on me,” Wyatt said hoarsely. “I was always away and, every time I got back, we’d just argue. She wanted a baby and I thought we had years. I kept requesting to go back. I wanted to be away. I didn’t care if my mission was dangerous. I came back and found out she’d cheated. She was devastated and I forgave her, eventually.” Wyatt thought of what Flynn had said that Lucy’s journal said, about cheating, about them cheating on each other. He pulled her even tighter and she gave him a smile. It wasn’t going to happen. Screw Flynn. “We went out one night and he was there, the guy she’d cheated with. I got angry, I got drunk and, then, when we were driving home, she demanded that I let her out of the car. I did but I stayed. I waited and she got back into the car. When we got home, I told her that I wanted a divorce. She agreed.”</p><p>Wyatt shook his head, giving Lucy a grim smile. “It wasn’t Jess’ fault and it wasn’t my fault. We got married straight out of high school. We didn’t know ourselves before we knew each other.”</p><p>Lucy broke his eye contact and Wyatt cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb against her cheekbone. “I wouldn’t cope with that,” Lucy said. “I mean- I don’t know how I will cope with that. After Flynn, after all of this, when you go back to being a soldier, I don’t know if I’ll be able to cope with you being away.” Wyatt felt something catch in his chest. “I wouldn’t cope with you choosing to be away from me.”</p><p>Wyatt shook his head. “If I’m actively choosing to be away from you, then something is wrong.” Wyatt sighed. “Lucy, I think that I- that you- that we both need to be open to possibilities.”</p><p>Lucy blinked. “What do you mean?”</p><p>“I mean that there are jobs I could take in America, in California, in San Francisco. I mean that we could settle somewhere- we,” Wyatt cleared his throat. “We’ve been together for two minutes but if this is real, which, God, Lucy it feels real, we both have to be open to possibilities to change.”</p><p>Lucy smiled and Wyatt felt his heart loosen again. “I could leave Stanford.”</p><p>“I could get a different job.”</p><p>Lucy bit her lip and leaned in to kiss him. Wyatt felt himself stiffen. “They’re asleep.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Bonnie, Clyde, I'm real sorry,” Wyatt said, turning to Bonnie and Clyde. Lucy’s chest tightened at seeing their faces morph. Bonnie’s in particular was hard to bear. It was hard to betray them, when they had helped save their lives, when they were so in love. Lucy’s heart hurt to think of how it would end for them.</p><p>“Henry was right,” Bonnie said, backing into Clyde. “You're liars. You put on a good show. I bet that diamond’s fake. I bet he don’t even love you. You lied to us.”</p><p>“That's not true, Bonnie,” Lucy said carefully. “We just came for the necklace. That's all we need. You can go back to your lives.”</p><p>But Bonnie’s face had hardened. “I ain't just gonna give it to you. You have to kill us both…” and that was when the gunfire started. Lucy opened her mouth to cry out but Bonnie and Clyde were already fleeing. She fell into Wyatt’s chest as he tugged her arm.</p><p>“Lucy, we have to go!” he reminded her harshly. Lucy nodded, with one final look back at the fleeing couple. She intertwined her fingers with Wyatt’s, made sure Rufus was following and made flight from the house.</p><p>She heard Clyde die and then Bonnie too and tears were running down her face as they reached the car that Rufus had brought them. Wyatt drove back to where they’d left the car. It was too late. Flynn had the key. They’d failed.</p><p>Lucy lay her head on Rufus’ shoulder, tears running down her cheeks. Rufus wrapped an arm around her and Wyatt looked at them every so often. She tried to smile at him.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy rested her head against the locker as she closed it, her car keys in her hand and her bag awkwardly perched on her shoulder. “Hey, babydoll.”</p><p>Lucy smiled as she turned. “Sweetheart,” she said. He approached her and took her into his arms. She rested her weary head on his shoulder. “Can I just come home with you?” she asked into his shirt, running her hands over the hard planes of his stomach.</p><p>“Mm,” Wyatt agreed, pressing a kiss to her head. “I wanted to say, Lucy, that -” Lucy looked up when he expelled a long breath. “I wanted to say that I hate it when you wear the engagement ring, even to make things easier with your mom. I hate the fact that you are even engaged at all.”</p><p>Lucy smiled, running her hand underneath his top to stroke his back. “I know,” she said soothingly. “On the phone earlier, I agreed to meet with him, so that I can tell him that it’s over.” A shocked noise emerged from Wyatt’s throat. Lucy laughed through her smile. She tapped his bare skin under his shirt. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s go home.”</p><p>“Right behind you, babydoll.”</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. The Capture of Benedict Arnold</h2></a>
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    <p>“You know, it is really weird that you don’t have any cushions on your sofa,” Lucy said. Wyatt narrowed his eyes at her as he passed her a mug of tea and placed his own on the coaster in front of him.</p><p>“What do you call these?” he said, tapping the sofa cushions.</p><p>“They come with the sofa. Those are different. It’s weird that you don’t have the little cushions.”</p><p>Wyatt shrugged. “I’ll get some.”</p><p>“What colour?” Lucy asked, bringing her cup of tea to her mouth. She didn’t sip it. She always did that with hot drinks, brought them close to breathe in the scent and the heat.</p><p>Wyatt gave her an exasperated smile. “I’m sure you already have an idea.”</p><p>“Yes,” Lucy said and the sparkle in her eye made Wyatt sure that she had lots of ideas and that he was just going to be along for the ride.</p><p>That had been about midday. It was a few hours later when Lucy was pulling a trolley out of the trolley bays and pushing it towards the furniture store, where she assured him they also sold cushions. Wyatt was putting on a disgruntled front but he actually agreed with Lucy’s point. His apartment was boring and drab. If he was going to stay there in the long term - and his heart raced even thinking about settling down in one place and not going back on tour - the apartment should be more comfortable, for both him and Lucy, and look less like he’d moved in two days before.</p><p>“So, how are you going to decimate my flat?” Wyatt said, pulling the trolley away from Lucy as she nearly crashed it twice in one movement.</p><p>“Cushions, a new blanket and a new bedspread.”</p><p>“That’s all?” Wyatt said incredulously.</p><p>“Trust me, it’ll look a million times better with just those things.”</p><p>“Okay,” Wyatt agreed and then his attention was pulled over to the sofas. “Shall we just browse, while we’re here anyway?” Lucy grinned.</p><p>They ended up leaving with a new sofa and armchair being delivered a week later, a flatpack bookcase and lots of matching grey things for the kitchen, as well as the soft furnishings that Lucy had wanted. Wyatt had never realised how enjoyable shopping for home was. When he’d been married to Jessica, they’d never really had any money to spend on frivolous things like this. Or maybe Wyatt had just thought it was frivolous when Jess wanted to spend their money on furniture and things to make their house nicer. She was the one that was always there. Wyatt swallowed down his guilt about his relationship with Jessica. It was over now and he would most likely never see her again.</p><p>He and Lucy got into the car, which was packed with their new things for his flat. Lucy turned to him and cupped his cheek, pulling him in for a kiss. “This was fun,” she said. Wyatt smiled.</p><p>“It really was-” he kissed her again “- sorry for doubting you.”</p><p>“You should have learned by now to never doubt me.” Wyatt grinned at her and put the car into gear to go. They reached home and unloaded the car, bringing all of their purchases up through the lift. Lucy held the doors open while Wyatt did multiple trips to the car, so that they wouldn’t have to come up and down a load of times.</p><p>When they had it all in the flat, Lucy set Wyatt to work building the bookcase while she fluffed pillows and made the bed. That’s what it seemed like, anyway, when Wyatt was getting extremely frustrated building the impossible bookcase and Lucy was placing things around the house. Only when he had built it and placed it on the same wall as the television, with a bit of a gap, could he see what she had done.</p><p>She had turned his functional flat into a home. With a grin, he wandered over to the kitchen, where Lucy was washing up their lunch plates and mugs from the tea, his speaker playing music. He leaned on the kitchen counter for a moment, mesmerised at how immersed she was in singing along to the song.</p><p>We’re still together, still going strong, you’re still the one I run to, the one that I belong to, you’re still the one I want for life</p><p>Wyatt furrowed his brow. He didn’t recognise it but Lucy clearly knew it well. He’d never heard her sing before but she was good - really good. Of course, she was. Wyatt remembered what she’d said, about dropping out of college to join a band. He’d just never considered the implications of that. He pulled out his phone and set it to record, enjoying the way her hips swayed with the beat of the music. She pressed the heel of her palm to her chin and ended up with bubbles there. Wyatt chuckled before realising that she would turn around.</p><p>She did, her hands in marigolds, and her face was the picture of surprise. “What are you doing?”</p><p>“Carry on,” Wyatt said with a grin. “You’re good!”</p><p>Instead, she grabbed the phone off him. Wyatt blinked and she dashed past him into the living room, where her new blue pillows were sitting nicely on his sofa. He chased after him - and he was faster than her, something they had confirmed the previous day when they had gone for a run together - and grabbed her around the waist, throwing her onto the sofa. Her laugh was almost a squeal. Wyatt followed her down onto the couch, pinning her down with his weight.</p><p>He leaned into her ear and whispered, “Got you.” He felt her shiver beneath him and when her eyes met his, they were dark. He picked the phone out of her hand and stopped recording. She smiled at him and looped her arms around his neck, marigolds and all. “What was that song?” he asked curiously.</p><p>She made an incredulous face at him and he chuckled. “It’s Shania Twain, You’re Still the One, you heathen.”</p><p>Wyatt barked out a laugh, pressing a kiss to where her chin became jaw. “Sorry, Professor, I-”</p><p>They were cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. Wyatt glanced at his but the screen was blank. Lucy groaned. “Must be mine,” she groused. “Get off me so I can go get it. It might be Mason.”</p><p>Wyatt did release her and sat on the sofa while she strode over to the kitchen to pick it up. He glanced at the bookcase he had built and thought about the James Bond novels that were currently in a stack in his wardrobe. He could put them there, in full view. Maybe he’d order the release poster from Weapon of Choice, too. Lucy would hate that, he thought with a grin.</p><p>“Agent Christopher,” Lucy’s voice said. Wyatt groaned, pressing his face into the side of the sofa. He stood and headed to the door, where his and Lucy’s shoes sat neatly together on the shoe rack. He picked up a pair - any pair as he only needed them to drive to Mason, not to wear for long - and bobbed back to the sofa to slip them on. “Yes, I will see you then,” he heard Lucy say. He looked at her strangely and found that her eyes were a bit off too. She hung up, placing the phone back down onto the counter.</p><p>“When are we going to?” Wyatt asked, one shoe on.</p><p>Lucy shook her head. “We’re not. Agent Christopher just invited me round to her house for dinner tonight.”</p><p>“What?” Wyatt said incredulously. He had never really considered Agent Christopher to have a personal life, though he had overheard her on the phone to her daughter one time. He shook his head. “Never mind. When do you have to leave?”</p><p>Lucy checked her watch. “Three hours.”</p><p>Wyatt felt his grin return full-force. “Excellent.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt leaned on the doorframe to their bedroom, watching Lucy tie her shoes. “Have you ever thought about telling anybody about us?” he asked her. She looked up at him briefly and then returned her eyes to her shoes.</p><p>“I thought we agreed that they would force you off the mission, replace you with Bam Bam or somebody else.”</p><p>Wyatt nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know.” He shook his head. “I just- maybe one day, in the future, when all of this is over, we’ll be able to go to things like this together.”</p><p>Lucy smiled and stood up, taking his face into her hands and brushing her thumb along his jawline, where he was letting his beard grow out some. “One day,” she said with a promising tone in her voice.</p><p>Wyatt swallowed. “You should go. Wouldn’t want to piss off Agent Christopher.”</p><p>“No,” Lucy agreed, smiling. “Do I look okay?”</p><p>“You look amazing,” he said honestly.</p><p>“Okay, then,” she said, her face slightly flushed. “I’ll see you later.”</p><p>“I will be waiting.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Are you telling me that Benedict Arnold was a member of Rittenhouse?” Lucy demanded, the letter in her hand. She turned it over and then looked at it again. It could be fake, a ploy - or it could be real.</p><p>“Wasn't just a member. He was a founding member. This is the year they began. This is our chance. We're gonna kill Rittenhouse in the crib.” Lucy hated the way he called it ‘our’ chance; it reminded her of every time that he had said that they would be quite a team someday. She glanced at Wyatt and found his face neutral, his eyes on her. “We're gonna stop them before they ever get started.”</p><p>“We can't talk about this,” Rufus hissed.</p><p>“You're gonna hunt these people down, and you want us to help you?”</p><p>“We can't talk about this,” Rufus said more urgently.</p><p>Flynn snapped, “Why? Because of your secret little recorder?” Lucy froze. Rufus turned a stiff head to Flynn. Wyatt inhaled deeply. “What? You don't think I know?” It had been naive to think that he didn’t know. Of course he knew. Of course he knew. He knew everything because of the stupid journal. </p><p>Flynn chuckled. “Okay, I'll make this easy. You help me here, now, and I'll hand over the keys to the Mothership, all yours.” Lucy’s head snapped up, meeting Flynn’s eyes. “After all, once Rittenhouse is gone, why would I keep taking these godforsaken trips?”</p><p>Shaking her head, Lucy swallowed. “You're talking about killing people, changing history.”</p><p>Flynn nodded seriously. “One last time and then it's over.” He cocked his head to one side. “That, or you keep chasing me, and I change history a hundred more times. Or we can end this, Lucy, now, once and for all.”</p><p>Lucy stilled. One day, she’d said to Wyatt when he’d said that he wanted to go to dinner parties with her. One day, she’d promised. Well, ‘one day’ meant all of this being over. That evening, when she’d left to go to Agent Christopher’s, ‘one day’ had been far away, had been maybe years more of fighting Flynn and preserving history.</p><p>Now, here, it was possibly over today. Lucy turned her head to Wyatt and found that he was staring at Flynn too. Lucy closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them she found Flynn smirking at her. “That’s what you want, isn’t it, Lucy? All of this to be over.”</p><p>She hated how he only spoke to her, hated the way that Wyatt’s jaw clenched, hated the way Flynn leaned in to talk to her. “Okay,” she agreed, ignoring Wyatt’s sound of discontent. “Okay.”</p><p>“Wonderful.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“I cannot believe you,” Wyatt hissed later on. Lucy swallowed. “You trust Flynn?”</p><p>“No,” she denied, widening her eyes at him. She looked around but neither Flynn nor Rufus was in the room. “You’re just jealous and you’re letting it compromise the mission.”</p><p>Wyatt’s eyes flashed. “Yes,” he admitted, “I’m jealous because that bastard talks to you like he owns you, like you’ve got this future together, like it says something in his journal-” Wyatt cut himself off, swallowing. “He acts like he knows all the answers.”</p><p>Lucy smiled and cupped his jaw. His scowl remained until Lucy brushed a thumb across his lips. “You’re a fool,” she told him fondly. His scowl returned, full-force. “You were the one who told me that I don’t have to be the Lucy that is in that journal, that we can change things. No matter what it says in that journal, that’s not my life. This is my life. I choose to be with you.”</p><p>She felt Wyatt’s jaw move in her hand as he unclenched it. “Okay,” he said and she reached up, ignoring the way her corset was rubbing, to kiss him.</p><p>A clapping sound broke them apart suddenly. “I have to say, that was a very lovely show.” Anger burned in Lucy’s stomach towards Flynn. He was a son of a bitch. How long had he been watching them? “I take it your pilot doesn’t know about your little arrangement.”</p><p>“It’s not an arrangement,” Wyatt said calmly. Lucy watched him anxiously. The last thing they needed right now was for Wyatt and Flynn to fight. “It’s a relationship.”</p><p>Flynn smirked at Wyatt. “Not for long, hey, Wyatt?” Lucy saw Wyatt’s face go red. She wrapped her hand around his upper arm. “Has he told you, Lucy? What you are going to write in your journal.” Lucy only tightened her hand around Wyatt, refusing to let Flynn get to her, refusing to let him tear them apart again.</p><p>“I don’t care,” she said truthfully. “It’s all lies.”</p><p>“I can’t believe that he would ever cheat on me,” Flynn mocked. Lucy clenched her jaw. “I never thought I could cheat on him.”</p><p>“Shut up,” she said, anger blazing behind her mind. She felt Wyatt place his hand at her waist and she calmed immediately. “Wyatt would never cheat on me. I would never cheat on him. You’re lying. It’s a cheap shot. I thought you were smarter than that, Flynn.”</p><p>Flynn’s smirk spread. “Do you want to see, Lucy? How would I know to ask you to help me on this mission if I didn’t know how desperate you were to be a real couple, to go to dinner parties together? I suppose furniture shopping gave you a taste for it.”</p><p>Lucy stilled. She felt Wyatt stiffen at her side. “Are you listening to us?” she demanded. “Do you have bugs in-”</p><p>Lucy clammed up as Rufus entered with a curious look. The heat in her body receded as Wyatt dropped his hands from her waist. “Is everything alright?”</p><p>“Peachy,” Wyatt snapped. “Come on, let’s get going. I want this over with.” Lucy clenched her eyes together, rocking backward on the heels of her feet.</p><p>“Yes, let’s go,” Flynn said, putting his hand on Lucy’s shoulder. Wyatt’s face went red and Lucy gave him what she hoped was a pacifying look. He flinched and followed them.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt glanced at Lucy talking to the boy, to Rittenhouse’s son. She had a way of talking to him that worked, as he was opening up to her, about his father, about his beliefs. Wyatt swallowed. It was inconceivable that this little boy was going to grow up to inherit Rittenhouse and all its evils, all its power. Perhaps it wasn’t as evil at this point, wasn’t as powerful, but Wyatt thought that Benedict Arnold was just the sort of man to make something evil, to be powergrabbing.</p><p>He tried to shake himself, glancing at Flynn to ground himself. Flynn walking in on him and Lucy earlier had been- illuminating. Could he really be fated to cheat on Lucy? He didn’t believe that his path was set out for him. He had once, when he and Jess had got married. He’d thought that he was made to be with her. He’d discovered that that, along with love at first sight and true love, was fake.</p><p>But Flynn knew what was wrong with them today. He had designed this mission around getting them to help, to want to be free of him and the missions. Because he knew they wanted to be a real couple.</p><p>If he knew all of that, then perhaps the future written in Lucy’s journal really was true. If that was so, Wyatt wanted to yank it out of the smug man’s hands and throw it into the fire. His adventure with Lucy had been a rollercoaster so far and he wanted it to continue in that way. He knew that he would not cheat on Lucy. Perhaps she had been confused, perhaps she had seen something suspicious and assumed he had cheated. And then cheated on him.</p><p>The very thought made Wyatt’s stomach roil. He did not believe that Lucy could ever cheat on him, not after he had told her about Jess. It wouldn’t happen. He refused to believe it, any of it.</p><p>It was fake.</p><p>The opening of the main door into the large room that they were in, waiting for Rittenhouse, distracted Wyatt. His hand went immediately to his gun. Lucy glanced at him. Rittenhouse was a little man, an old man with spectacles on the end of his nose. “Benedict Arnold,” Rittenhouse said. His voice was like every typical storybook villain’s. “You honor us with your presence.”</p><p>“David, you look well,” Benedict Arnold said. Wyatt inhaled. Arnold did not have a convincing voice. It was too dangerous to gamble like this with an unknown. “John was just telling my friends about you.”</p><p>“Yes, Father. They want to join.” Lucy looked tense. Her brow was sweating. Wyatt glanced at her to reassure her.</p><p>“You've never brought me recruits before, Benedict.” Rittenhouse looked around at each of them and then his eyes settled on Lucy. “May I get a better look at you?” Wyatt’s eyes widened in fury. Lucy looked at him, her lips parted in terror. “My eyes aren't what they used to be.”</p><p>“Go on. Father wants to examine you,” John encouraged. Wyatt closed his eyes briefly. How could somebody twist a child so quickly? So early in life?</p><p>Rittenhouse touched Lucy’s face. Wyatt found Flynn was looking at him, his eyes wide in warning. His leg was shaking. “You have good, strong teeth.” Wyatt screwed his face up and looked away. He couldn’t jeopardise this mission. Lucy could look after herself. She could cope. “Good skull proportion,” the rat bastard continued.</p><p>“Stop,” Lucy said between gritted teeth. Wyatt’s breath came quickly. How was he letting this bastard touch his girlfriend like this? It would be over soon, it would be over. They just had to convince Rittenhouse.</p><p>“Your hips are a bit narrow, but nobody's perfect. Have you reproduced yet?”</p><p>Lucy physically recoiled. “No.”</p><p>“Good.” Wyatt heard the sound of the guns cocking just before they were aimed at his skull and at Flynn’s. Lucy gasped as they forced her to turn around, a man holding a knife to her throat. </p><p>“Wyatt,” she whispered.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Wyatt demanded.</p><p>“No sudden movements, if you please,” Rittenhouse said calmly.</p><p>“David, what is this?” Arnold asked.</p><p>“These men are here to kill me,” Rittenhouse said softly.</p><p>“You got this all wrong,” Flynn tried.</p><p>“Really? The sweat on her brow,” he said, nodding at Lucy, “The hand near your pocket, where I assume you have a pistol.” Wyatt closed his eyes in regret. “This isn't the first time I've seen that look on a man's face, believe me. Of course, if a man were handling my lover, I would mean him harm too.” Wyatt looked desperately to Lucy. She was standing stock still. The knife was so close to her throat. “But don't worry, my dear,” he said to Lucy. “We'll still find a good use for you.”</p><p>“No!” Wyatt cried as they dragged Lucy off. He turned to Flynn in horror and found the man looking as Wyatt felt, no hope remaining.</p><p>XXX</p><p>The capsule disappeared and Wyatt fell to his knees, hand over his mouth. As if it wasn’t bad enough to watch Rittenhouse’s man drag Lucy off to rape her that night, now he had to watch as Flynn used her trust in him against her and kidnapped her. Wyatt blinked back furious tears. She was so good. Why had she trusted him?</p><p>“Wyatt,” Rufus pressed. “The Lifeboat.”</p><p>Wyatt nodded dumbly, watching the spot where the Mothership had disappeared. He wondered whether Flynn had done Lucy’s seatbelt before Anthony had taken them away. Rufus’ hand fell on his shoulder. “We’ll get her back, Wyatt.”</p><p>Wyatt blinked. Of course they would get her back. They had the Lifeboat, to chase the Mothership. He jumped up. “Come on,” he said.</p><p>He ran as fast as he could back to the Lifeboat, panting by the time he reached it. Rufus wasn’t too far behind him, though his breathing was even worse. He clearly understood that they had to get Lucy back soon too. “We have to get her back,” Wyatt panted as he took his seat. Rufus nodded.</p><p>Wyatt stared at the seat ahead of him and had to close his eyes to hide his tears. Lucy. He was supposed to protect her. Rufus got them going quicker than ever and they had quickly arrived back at Mason. Wyatt jumped up and forced the door open.</p><p>“Where is he?” he called. Jiya, Agent Christopher and Mason narrowed their eyes. “When is he?”</p><p>“Who?” Agent Christopher asked.</p><p>“Flynn,” Wyatt snarled. He felt Rufus come down the steps beside him.</p><p>“Wyatt, it’s going to be okay,” Rufus said quietly.</p><p>“When is he?” he demanded.</p><p>“Where’s Lucy?” Jiya asked, her voice quiet. Wyatt had to turn away to hide the wetness in his eyes.</p><p>“Flynn took her,” Rufus said. Wyatt closed his eyes slowly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The World's Columbian Exposition</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wyatt admired the dent he’d made in his locker. It was impressively fist-shaped. His hand didn’t hurt nearly enough to distract him from Lucy being missing, though. He sank down onto the bench and pulled out his phone. The video of her singing was already up. It had been the first thing he’d done when Jiya told him that the Lifeboat needed to charge, just watched her, watched the look on her face when she turned around. There was another picture, too, of their faces pressed together, looking into the mirror she’d had him buy. She’d wrapped her legs around his waist from behind, like he was giving her a piggyback and had grabbed his phone and taken the picture of them. He was looking up at her but she was making a silly face. She’d wanted to make the point of how much better the lighting was for her to put makeup on in there, versus the bathroom mirror.</p><p>The sound of somebody walking in had Wyatt locking his phone, getting rid of Lucy’s beautiful face. He wiped his eyes furiously. “Is it ready?” he asked, when he saw Rufus. He knew immediately from the guilty look in Rufus’ eyes but the pilot shook his head anyway. Wyatt sighed.</p><p>“She’d deal with this better than us,” Rufus said softly, coming to sit beside Wyatt on the bench. Wyatt swallowed. “When Flynn had you, in DC, she was furious. You could see it behind her eyes and, sometimes, I would look at her and she would be so scared and then she would hide it behind the anger and the resolve- she’s always so resolved to do something.” Wyatt nodded stiffly. “I was freaking out because five hours just wasn’t enough and she just- she just cracked on and fought.”</p><p>“That’s Lucy,” Wyatt said softly. If she’d been trained as a soldier, Wyatt thought she would have been an excellent one. But she wasn’t. She was his historian. “You done any research on this World Fair?”</p><p>Rufus nodded. “A bit but Wikipedia isn’t Lucy.”</p><p>Wyatt chuckled wetly. “It is not.”</p><p>“We’re gonna get her back, Wyatt,” Rufus’ quiet voice said. Wyatt turned to him and found that the resolve that he so admired in Lucy was in Rufus’ face now. “We’re gonna get her back and she’ll be lecturing us about history and running off about random facts before we know it. We’re gonna get her back.”</p><p>Wyatt closed his eyes and let some of Rufus’ resolve take over his fear.</p><p>XXX</p><p>The bell jangled and Flynn looked up, his eyes that had been filled with - something - when Lucy had mentioned the way he used to care about people, the way his family had been murdered, suddenly clearing. A man Lucy recognised as one of Flynn’s walked over, arrogance in his stride. “Well, they were easy to find,” the man said. Lucy had never learned his name. “They went right for Roosevelt, just like you said they would.”</p><p>Panic rose in Lucy’s chest. “What is he talking about?”</p><p>Flynn turned to her with a smirk. “Maybe you don't care about yourself, but you do care about Wyatt and Rufus, don't you?” Horror filled her. They’d come after her, of course they had, but they’d walked right into Flynn’s trap. “I've sent your friends to the, ah, World's Fair Hotel.”</p><p>Lucy’s insides froze. “You son of a bitch.”</p><p>“But the hotel came to be known by another name. What was that again?”</p><p>“The Murder Castle.”</p><p>Lucy ignored Flynn’s prattling on with his accomplice to focus on the rising panic in her chest. Getting over the hump was not enough to stop this, to stop the attacks of panic she had - and when Wyatt was in danger, they were even worse. How had they gone from possibly never having to go on a mission again to this?</p><p>Looking back now, she seemed so naive but, as they had been helping Flynn, Lucy had been thinking of how they would tell Rufus. Would they tell him the truth, that it had all started with the first mission? Or would they pretend it had all just started now? Lucy had decided that she was fed up with pretending and they would just tell him the truth and deal with the repercussions. But all of that was moot now.</p><p>And it would be all completely useless if she didn’t get them out of the Murder Castle. The thought of arriving to find them- They couldn’t die, not like this, not trapped and scared. Tears came to Lucy’s eyes and she blinked them away. No. She had to be focussed. She pulled up her anger and pushed away the fear.</p><p>Anger cleared her mind and she recalled everything she knew about the World’s Fair. History was her weapon and she would wield it well, to save Wyatt and Rufus and get them home.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“I can't stop thinking about my father,” Sophia said, all the words coming out in one breath. Wyatt looked away from his attempts to break through the metal. “How he's waiting for me to come home and tell him all about my big trip.” She smiled. “He was so proud. You know, I designed the Women's Pavilion at the fair. I went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for architecture… first woman to do it.”</p><p>“You went to MIT?” Rufus asked. Sophia nodded. “So did I.”</p><p>Sophia’s eyes widened. “Oh, you must be Robert Robinson Taylor.” Wyatt half-smirked.</p><p>“No, uh… I'm the other black guy.”</p><p>“There were two?” Sophia said. Lucy would have known what to say to that. Lucy always knew what to say. Wyatt’s tool broke in his hand.</p><p>“Ugh!” he panted. Leaning forward, he sighed. “This isn't working.”</p><p>“We are going to die here,” Sophia said. Wyatt turned and saw tears in her eyes. He clenched his jaw. “My father will never know what happened. It'll just be like… I dropped off the face of the Earth.”</p><p>Wyatt closed his eyes, resting his head on the brick in front of him. “You know,” he started, his voice gravelly, “there’s this girl.” He turned to see Sophia smile. “I really- God, this girl,” Wyatt sighed. “I want to- I want to be with her, more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life. It’s like I was given this second chance. That’s what it feels like when I’m with her.” Wyatt looked at Rufus and saw that he understood, the knowing, sad look in his eyes making Wyatt’s stomach squirm. “I’m not giving up on that,” Wyatt said strongly, turning back to Sophia. “I am going to fight to get out of here and find her. You’re going to get back to your father, and you to your little boy,” Wyatt said to George. “I just need you to work with me.”</p><p>Sophia took in a deep breath and looked around the room. “I'm telling you,” Sophia said, her fingers tapping her chin and her eyes full of tears. “These joints... they're impossible. It's never g…” she trailed off.</p><p>Wyatt looked up at her sharply. “What?”</p><p>She rushed forward to the wall opposite her. “Do you see this one brick?” Wyatt looked. It was a different colour to the rest. “It's concrete. And it's spalling.”</p><p>Wyatt shook his head. “What does that mean?”</p><p>Rufus came to join them, taking in the brick. “The material is deteriorating.”</p><p>“Yeah, if we can find something to make a small hole, we might be able to get someone to hear us,” Sophia said, her tone excitable. Wyatt smiled.</p><p>“Will this work?” he asked.</p><p>Sophia shrugged but her smile didn’t die. “It's worth a try.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>The moment Wyatt was in her arms was like she had learned to breathe again. She pressed her face into his neck and inhaled him, his smell, his skin. She closed her eyes to savour the moment, to enjoy the feel of his hand cradling her head. She could hear his breathing, could feel the breath against her hair.</p><p>“Oh, this is her?” a voice said from behind. Lucy startled and fell out of Wyatt’s arms. She found a curly-haired woman watching her with a smile. “Thank you!” she said, spurring forward to embrace Lucy as well. Lucy stiffened but then accepted the hug and the woman ran out.</p><p>“Rufus,” Lucy said fondly, wrapping him up in her arms.</p><p>“I knew you’d come for us,” Rufus said. “How did you do it?”</p><p>Lucy smiled and led them out into the hallway, accepting a thank you from the other occupant of the trap room, who raced away. “Meet Harry Houdini,” she said, holding her hand out for Rufus to go first. Rufus gave her an incredulous look but headed out of the room first. Harry stood outside waiting for them.</p><p>Turning to Wyatt with a bitten lip, Lucy found him not grinning but looking at her as though she was entirely new. She felt her smile fall and stared into his eyes. “Come on,” she murmured. “We’re safe now.” Wyatt nodded and left the room to meet Houdini too.</p><p>“Thank you,” George said to Harry, shaking his hand. “We should probably get going before someone realizes we're gone.” There was general agreement to that and Harry led the way, Rufus peppering him with questions.</p><p>Wyatt grabbed Lucy by the forearm and she looked up at him, her lips turned upwards. His face was serious, though. “Lucy. We're not done here yet.” She blinked and nodded.</p><p>XXX</p><p>He didn’t let go of her this time. When she wasn’t close enough to be in his actual arms, he had his hand on her arm or in her hand. He’d never had a day like this day. The first time he’d lost her had been bad enough but he’d - he supposed that he’d known that Flynn would never actually harm Lucy, or he’d thought so anyway. Of course, it was easy to say that now that he was looking at it with Lucy in his arms, and in comparison with her being taken by an actual serial killer.</p><p>“Lucy,” Harry Houdini interrupted Wyatt’s breathing in Lucy's hair. She tugged away and Wyatt forgot to release her hand until she was looking at him with raised brows and a soft smile on her face. Wyatt nodded and let her go. He ignored Rufus’ look. “This was quite an adventure,” Houdini said to Lucy, who smiled. She glanced back at Wyatt and he felt something soothe in his heart. “Sure you can't come with me?” Houdini asked her. Wyatt’s smile slipped away. “We make a great team. And I could sure use an assistant.”</p><p>“You'll find a better one soon,” Lucy promised him and glanced back at Wyatt, and Rufus, Wyatt supposed. “And I already have people to help.” Wyatt walked over to be closer to her. He inclined his head at Houdini and then Houdini turned to go. “Harry,” Lucy called after him, “keep a lookout for a… Bess, or an Annie, or a Frances, or a Bess. And you will go on to do amazing things together.”</p><p>Harry smiled, puzzled. “What makes you so sure?”</p><p>Lucy smiled, a sly little thing that reminded Wyatt how long it had been since she’d been in his bed. “A magician never reveals her secrets.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“So, crazy day, huh?”</p><p>Wyatt looked up from tying his shoes to find Rufus in front of him, back in his modern clothes. He nodded stiffly once. “You waiting for Jiya?” Wyatt asked, not wanting to talk about how much he had reacted to Lucy being gone, to her being back near him. Rufus gave him half a smile.</p><p>“Don’t change the subject, Wyatt.” Wyatt returned his attention to his laces. “You should go for it.”</p><p>Wyatt’s head came up to give Rufus a warning look. “What are you talking about?” Rufus nodded in the direction of the wardrobe dock, from which Lucy and Jiya were approaching. Wyatt sighed. “I’ll think about it.”</p><p>Rufus rolled his eyes. “Wyatt, I’ve seen you thinking about it since we met. It’s about time you acted on it.” Wyatt opened his mouth to respond but Rufus had already turned to Jiya to wrap an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll see you two soon.”</p><p>“Hopefully not too soon,” Jiya called back as they wandered away.</p><p>Lucy chuckled and watched them leave. “Hmm, yeah, I could really do with a break after this one.”</p><p>Wyatt smiled. “Come on, babydoll. Let’s go home.” Lucy smiled up at him.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy lay on top of Wyatt on their sofa, the next James Bond movie playing in the background but she wasn’t paying attention to it. She was tracing her fingers softly along his jaw, her eyes firmly on his. Drawing a gentle line across his lips, she found herself smiling.</p><p>“You want me to make dinner at any point?” Wyatt asked as she cupped his jaw with her whole hand. Lucy shook her head.</p><p>“I’m good. Don’t wanna let you go.”</p><p>Wyatt’s throat bobbed. Lucy ran her fingers over it. He tightened his arms around her back and Lucy drew even closer into him. “Today was scary,” Wyatt confessed against Lucy’s head. “I punched my locker.”</p><p>“Really?” Lucy asked, her eyes wide and a grin at her lips. “Is there a dent?”</p><p>“Big one,” Wyatt confirmed. Lucy stroked his jaw. “Lucy, I’m emotionally compromised here. I didn’t know how to- God, I thought I was going to combust from fear.”</p><p>“I know,” she said softly.</p><p>Wyatt shook his head. “I don’t know how you do it. Your brain could work. You made a plan. You found Houdini and saved me. I couldn’t even save you from Flynn.”</p><p>“It’s okay,” Lucy told him. “It’s okay because it’s not going to happen again. We’re going to be together.”</p><p>“That seems like a naive thing to say,” Wyatt commented. Lucy grinned. “God, I always thought that the soldier part of this was so- I don’t know, Lucy. I always just thought you were assisting me and I was doing the main point of this. I know that’s my ego talking-” Lucy made a humming noise of agreement “- but today, I just- I’m a soldier and I didn’t save you until the very end but you freed yourself and saved us, using just your knowledge.”</p><p>“And Houdini,” Lucy added. “If he’d been a dick, I’d have been screwed.”</p><p>“True,” Wyatt allowed, “but he wasn’t. I just- you’re just amazing.”</p><p>“I think you’re pretty amazing, too. I knew you would come for me, when Holmes had me in that box. You always come for me.” Lucy pressed her lips to the corner of Wyatt’s jaw. “We should order food. I don’t want to let you go, after today.”</p><p>“You’re right,” Wyatt said, his fingers coming up to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. “You’re always right.”</p><p>“Glad you’ve caught on.” Lucy squeaked as Wyatt pinched her ass. “What was Rufus talking to you about, before? It seemed quite intense. Did you have a bros talk when you thought you were going to die?”</p><p>Wyatt chuckled. “Bros talk?”</p><p>Lucy nodded and made her arms look like she had big muscles. “You know, bros talk. Like, I don’t know, about time, about Flynn - oh my God, did he tell you he loved Jiya?”</p><p>Wyatt tutted, rolling his eyes. “What do you think me and Rufus talk about?” </p><p>Lucy shrugged. “Honestly? Without me, I don’t think you have anything to talk about. I think I bridge all of your differences.”</p><p>“You know when you say I have an ego? I really think you should check yours out.”</p><p>Lucy giggled, pressing her lips to his shoulder. “I mean, what do you talk about? You don’t even have a games console.”</p><p>“We both like James Bond.”</p><p>“James Bond is like your entire personality. You can’t possibly talk about James Bond more than you talk about it with me.” That earned her a slap to the ass and she waggled her eyebrows at him. He chuckled and pulled her closer. “Come on, what was he saying?”</p><p>“Okay, okay,” he relented. “When we were in that room, I had to- I don’t know. I needed Sophia to calm down and help me, so I told her that there was this girl-”</p><p>“She sounds great.” Wyatt glared at her.</p><p>“I told her that there was this girl who I really liked and that I wanted a chance with her and I wasn’t going to give up on that, so I needed her to help me get back to her.”</p><p>“I better be the girl.”</p><p>Wyatt chuckled. “You said it yourself, babydoll, I’d never cheat on you.” Lucy kissed him softly. “Anyway, Rufus obviously heard all of this so he told me that I should do something about it. I told him I’d think about it and he said that he’d seen me thinking about it since he met me and it was time to do something about it.”</p><p>“Ah, if only he knew,” Lucy teased. Wyatt snorted. They were silent for a beat and then Lucy said, “Do you think Rittenhouse know about our relationship?”</p><p>Wyatt sighed. “I don’t know. That’s been on my mind a lot. I’m surprised Agent Christopher hasn’t brought it up with us. She must know.”</p><p>Lucy raised her brows. “How?”</p><p>“I assume they have security detail on us.”</p><p>“I suppose that that would make sense.” Lucy pursed her lips. “I don’t want to think about it.”</p><p>“Neither,” Wyatt said, pressing his lips to her shoulder. Lucy shivered. “We just stick together and we’ll be okay.”</p><p>“Together,” Lucy repeated, reaching down to take his hand in hers and link their fingers. She looked deep into his eyes and leaned to kiss him lingeringly. When she pulled away, she said, her eyes dark,“What shall we order to eat?” Wyatt grinned.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Murder of Jesse James</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wyatt turned the radio up as Midnight Train to Georgia came on. He bobbed his head along with the tune, beating away at the pancake batter. He checked his watch briefly and decided that the oil in the pan had probably been heating for long enough. Ladling an appropriate amount of batter out of his bowl, he poured it into the pan and enjoyed the sound of its sizzling.</p><p>“The best sound in the world,” he heard a sleepy voice say from behind him. Wyatt turned with a smile. “Nice apron, sweetheart.” Wyatt glanced down at the frilly apron that Lucy wore for washing up - she was not allowed near his nice pans and oven to wear it for cooking - and grinned at her. She wore a sort of half smile.</p><p>“Come here,” he said, cocking his head backwards to summon her. He placed the bowl of batter on the kitchen counter and took his girlfriend into his arms.</p><p>“I don’t like waking up without you,” she mumbled into his chest. He stroked her hair softly and awkwardly turned them so that he could keep an eye on the pancake in the pan.</p><p>“I’m making you pancakes,” Wyatt protested. Lucy hummed, leaning away far enough so that she could cock her head upwards and pout her lips. Wyatt bent down slightly to kiss her. “You alright?” he asked, frowning.</p><p>Lucy tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, releasing him to return to flip the pancake. “It’s Amy’s birthday today.” Wyatt’s shoulders slumped and he turned to look at her again. She gave him a sad smile. “She’d love pancakes.”</p><p>“This time next year, Luce,” Wyatt said softly, “she’ll be here and I’ll make her pancakes.” Lucy smiled and sat down at the kitchen table. “You wanna do something to celebrate?”</p><p>“A stack of pancakes is good,” Lucy said, drawing her legs to her chin. Wyatt smiled and returned to his pancake-making. </p><p>Not long after, he placed the stack on the table, on a plate, and pulled out his phone. “What are you doing?” Lucy asked.</p><p>Wyatt grinned and headed over to her, crouching awkwardly and extending his hand around the pancakes. “Smile!” Lucy let out a little laugh that worked well enough for a smile for Wyatt, so he smiled too, and took the photo. “We’ll get it developed and take it with us on the mission to get Amy, so she can know that we celebrated her birthday.”</p><p>Lucy grinned and cupped his cheek in her hand. “You’re amazing, you know that?” Wyatt smirked and bent further to kiss her softly. She shoved him away with a hand to the chest. “Let me have my pancakes now, Logan.”</p><p>He saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.” Seating himself opposite her, he gave her a small grin that she returned. “I was gonna go food shopping today. Do you wanna come?” Lucy bobbed her head up and down, her mouth full of pancake drenched in maple syrup. “Do you wanna write a list?” Lucy nodded her head more definitively this time and Wyatt grinned. “So predictable.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>They arrived at the supermarket that Wyatt preferred a few hours later, with a list in hand and Wyatt pushing the trolley. “Where do you wanna start, ma’am?” Wyatt asked as they approached. Lucy had organised her list into different sections of groceries. She looked up, tapping her pen against her lips.</p><p>“This is ridiculously couple-y of us, you know?” she commented.</p><p>Wyatt smiled, leaning close to her to kiss her and then mumble against her lips, “Well, babydoll, we are very much a couple.” He punctuated that with another kiss and Lucy smiled against his lips.</p><p>“Hey, hey, Logan, I think that’s a public violation!” a voice interrupted them. Wyatt pulled away from Lucy abruptly, his hand going to his pistolless pocket and his eyes searching the surroundings. He found a couple approaching with a full trolley and relaxed, chuckling.</p><p>“Matty,” he greeted fondly, letting go of the trolley with one hand to clasp it to his friend’s, “and Laura,” he continued, leaning over to Laura to kiss her cheek. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>Matty, Wyatt’s friend from Pembleton, turned to look at the supermarket. “We’re here to see a film. I assume you’ve come to play golf?” Laura pursed her lips at her husband and Wyatt smiled at her.</p><p>“I meant- whatever. I assume you’re on leave?”</p><p>“Yes,” Matty confirmed. “Few weeks’ leave with the lady wife.” Matty turned to Lucy who was standing silently at Wyatt’s side. Wyatt nearly cursed himself. “And who is this, Wyatt?”</p><p>Wyatt grinned at Lucy. “This is Lucy.”</p><p>“Lucy,” Matty repeated slowly, dragging out each sound and glancing at his wife. “You hear this, Laura, Wyatt has a Lucy.” Laura smiled fondly at Wyatt. “Now that is the sort of thing you mention to your friends, isn’t it?”</p><p>Wyatt rolled his eyes, worming his hand around Lucy’s waist. “It’s a new sort of thing.”</p><p>“A thing,” Matty repeated again, widening his eyes dramatically at his wife. “I have to say I have never known you to have a thing with anybody since Jess.”</p><p>Wyatt’s lips twitched upwards on one side. “What can I say? I was won away from my bachelor life.”</p><p>“Well, it is lovely to meet you, Lucy,” Laura said, holding her hand out for Lucy to shake, which she did. “I hope you know what you’re getting into with this one.” Wyatt grunted with discontent, narrowing his eyes at Laura who was smiling teasingly at him. “What do you do, Lucy?”</p><p>Lucy froze, opening her lips. Wyatt answered for her, proudly, “She’s a history professor at Stanford.”</p><p>“How’d a bum like you get a professor?” Matty asked, laughing. Wyatt rolled his eyes and found Lucy looking at him amused. “I’m home for two more weeks, Wyatt. How about we do dinner? The four of us?” Wyatt looked down at Lucy for confirmation and found her nodding, a little smile on her lips. Wyatt smiled too.</p><p>“Okay,” he confirmed. “We’re free most nights,” Wyatt lied, though he knew that he would not be able to name a night that they were definitely going to be free. It was better to choose randomly and cancel if necessary. Wyatt confirmed that he did still have Matty’s number and then his friends left with their trolley, bickering quietly.</p><p>“You know him from the army?” Lucy asked as they finally entered the store and she directed them to the fruit and vegetables. Wyatt nodded.</p><p>“Yeah.” He watched Lucy pick up the first few bits from her list of food, most of which was for meals that he was going to cook. “You are happy to go to their house, aren’t you? I can cancel-”</p><p>Lucy shook her head gently. “I’m very happy to. It’s what we said we wanted, remember?”</p><p>Wyatt did remember. He and Lucy wanted to be a real couple, who could go to dinner parties together, so much that Flynn had been able to manipulate them with it - and, eventually, kidnap Lucy. Wyatt’s insides went cold just remembering how it had felt to see her disappearing in the Mothership. He felt Lucy lay her hand on top of his, on the trolley handle, and he smiled at her.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Fuck,” Lucy breathed softly as Wyatt entered her from behind. She braced herself against the white tiles, hands flat and slipping on the wet surfaces. The shower was steamy with hot water. It had been Wyatt’s shower originally but Lucy had been too tempted by the idea of him alone, naked.</p><p>He slammed into her again and Lucy curled her toes to keep her grip on the floor. Fucking in the shower was messy and relied almost entirely on Wyatt keeping her upright, especially towards the end when her legs were like jelly. She moaned out his name as she felt his hand tighten on her hip, backing her hips into his roughly. Wyatt growled into her ear and Lucy tightened her muscles as much as she could in response. His breath in her ear never failed to rile her up.</p><p>The sound of the shower running at its highest level was so much that Lucy could hardly hear the slap of Wyatt’s hips against hers, could hardly hear the dirty things he whispered in her ear as his hand snaked around to her front to rub at her clit. Lucy felt her knees give out and worked hard to strengthen them.</p><p>Wyatt’s chuckle against her hair made her whole body pulse and his sudden exit from inside her made her whine and turn her head to him in anger. He tutted and tapped her hip to have her turn around. Lucy understood immediately and looped her arms around his neck. He picked her up, his hands cupping her arse, and slammed into her just as she rested her feet against each other, just above his ass.</p><p>It was easier to focus on him, and the way he was fucking her, in this position, because she wasn’t worried so much about falling on the slippy surface. She loved that Wyatt was strong enough to fuck her like this, loved the feel of his strong muscles against her sides, loved having accessibility to his jaw, loved the sounds he made when she peppered kisses along his throat and jaw and when she took his ear lobe into her mouth and sucked.</p><p>She knew he was close when he took one hand from her arse and rested it on the tiles behind them. Bucking her hips forward in time with his thrusts, Lucy chased her orgasm, tipping her head back when he brought his teeth down to graze her nipples.</p><p>“Luce,” Wyatt panted, looking up from her breast. Lucy nodded hastily, tightening her hand on the back of his neck and lowering her other to his ass.</p><p>“Almost, almost,” she replied breathily. His thrusts were erratic and hard, his lips busying themselves again with her nipples. He sucked one into his mouth and then thrust into her in a different direction. Lucy squeezed his ass, digging her fingernails into him, as she came with a long groan, her head thrown back far enough for her hair to graze her back. With another three thrusts, she felt him pulse inside her and then fill her with his seed.</p><p>He loosened his hold on her immediately but Lucy dug her fingernails into his ass again. “Stay,” she panted, kissing his jaw. “For a second.”</p><p>Wyatt rested his forehead on her collarbone. “So tight, Lucy. You’re so good.” Lucy hummed and pressed a kiss to the space beneath his ear. “Fuck, give me a little longer, Lucy, and we can go again.”</p><p>Lucy chuckled and allowed him to release her. “I should probably actually wash,” she muttered, angling herself under the spray of the water and arching her back. “This shower is the best thing in this apartment.”</p><p>Wyatt snorted. “I would disagree.” Opening her eyes, Lucy found him watching her appreciatively and she tapped his ass.</p><p>“Pass me the shower gel.”</p><p>Ten minutes later, Lucy was squeezing her hair with her towel, eagerly anticipating the pasta dish Wyatt had started making in the kitchen. She glanced around the bedroom for her phone and furrowed her brow when she saw it wasn’t on the bedside table. Heading into the ensuite bathroom, she heard a knock on her door.</p><p>The second she unlocked her phone, she knew who it would be at the door so she didn’t leave the bedroom. There were twenty-one missed calls from Mason, Rufus and Jiya. She swore into her palm and crept back into the bedroom to find some clothes.</p><p>“What the hell, Wyatt?” she heard from the living room.</p><p>“Agent Christopher?” Wyatt’s voice said incredulously. Lucy pulled black leggings on quickly and threw a jumper on, too. “Oh- shit- has Flynn-”</p><p>“Jumped?” Agent Christopher finished. “Yes. Why the hell aren’t you answering your phone?” Lucy closed her eyes as Wyatt stumbled to apologise. “Come on. We’d better get going. Have you heard from Lucy? I’ve sent Mason to her mom’s house to get her. She’s not answering either.”</p><p>Lucy swore softly as the door closed behind a leaving Wyatt and Agent Christopher. She hastily searched for her keys. She would have to wait a few minutes for Wyatt and Agent to reach the garage and leave before she headed down to find her car. “Fuck,” she swore again. She wondered how Wyatt was managing to explain himself and hoped that she would not have to when she arrived.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt was not certain that he had ever been so surprised by a visitor to his flat as he had been when, ten minutes after leaving the shower, he’d been greeted by Agent Christopher at his door. He’d followed her out of there with only his keys, leaving even his phone behind so he could not message Lucy to give her mission details. She’d phoned Agent Christopher on the way to Mason and Wyatt had had to sit there in silence as she made up an excuse for her lateness.</p><p>Rufus had been furious with them when they’d arrived, Wyatt about five minutes before Lucy, but they had been changed and in the Lifeboat too quickly for Rufus to really go at them about it and, when they’d arrived, Wyatt had given Rufus a quick apology, which had been reiterated by Lucy. Of course, that hadn’t stopped Rufus bringing it up a few times since.</p><p>The mission was possibly Wyatt’s best-dressed so far. He particularly liked having to wear a hat on missions but these hats were particularly fantastic. Lucy had had to wear a corset, though. Although Wyatt had quite strong positive feelings about seeing Lucy in a corset, he had seen the red sores that it left on her after wearing it, after he’d got her back from Flynn’s kidnapping, and he’d listened to her explain all of the horrible side effects that wearing one had on the body. Wyatt felt quite guilty for how easily he could survive through time, being a white man, compared with Lucy and Rufus’ sufferings.</p><p>Of course, Lucy’s corset sufferings were moot now as Bass Reeves was having her change to trek through Indian territory.</p><p>The look on Lucy’s face when he had refused to bring her had been priceless. Bass had turned to him - as though she were his property - and Wyatt had, obviously, said that Lucy could come. Bass was still looking at him oddly.</p><p>Wyatt tapped his fingers on the bridle of his horse. He was far more comfortable on a horse than Rufus or Lucy and it was incredibly amusing to watch Rufus struggle with discomfort. Bass and Grant were watching Rufus with amusement and some confusion too. Wyatt’s attention was drawn away from Rufus by Lucy’s arrival, finally in more comfortable clothes: a hat like his, a shirt and trousers - and boots. Wyatt swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry.</p><p>He slid off his horse as she walked past. “I’m alright,” she muttered and he raised his brows at her. She allowed him to follow her to her horse and help her up. She slid off the other side immediately. Wyatt snorted.</p><p>“You okay?” he asked, amused. She glared at him over the horse and walked around to the other side again. “You look unbelievably hot right now,” he muttered into her ear as he helped her again. She shot him a sharp look from the saddle and Wyatt grinned with a wink, dashing to remount his horse.</p><p>And then they were off, heading into Indian territory, in a posse with the Lone Ranger and Tonto.</p><p>XXX</p><p>They set watch times when they camped. It was rare that they had to camp on these missions and Wyatt knew that, had they been alone, they likely wouldn’t have, but they had to bow to Bass and Grant’s superior knowledge and experience. Wyatt and Lucy offered to take the first watch, the dark sky above them illuminated by stars. Wyatt saw Bass give him an assessing look before he set himself to sleep.</p><p>Lucy sat beside him, leaning her head back against the tree trunk, her face neutral. “You okay?” Wyatt muttered, keeping his eyes on the camp.</p><p>“Mm.” She glanced at him. “I’m cold. Reckon we could sit a bit closer?”</p><p>They were sitting about two metres apart. Wyatt glanced at Rufus and decided that his snores were enough proof of his sleep. He shuffled closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. She rested her head against his chest. “If Rufus wakes up and sees us now, we’ll be in for it.”</p><p>“He’s already pissed at us,” Lucy murmured. Wyatt laughed silently. “I cannot believe-” she cut herself off with a shake of her head. “We can never tell them that we were late because we were fucking in the shower.”</p><p>Wyatt grinned at her. He loved it when she swore. “We never did get that second round I promised you,” he said, his eyes lingering on hers before returning to their surroundings. He felt Lucy still and trail her hand lower on his chest. Wyatt caught her wrist without looking at her and brought it up to kiss softly.</p><p>“Very unprofessional for us to do anything,” Lucy muttered. Wyatt nodded.</p><p>“Incredibly unprofessional.”</p><p>“And we have to keep aware.”</p><p>“And you can’t even keep your legs straight when I’m fucking you never mind keep watch.” Wyatt chuckled as Lucy poked him in the stomach. “The men of the 1800s didn’t know what they were missing keeping their women in skirts when they could have been wearing trousers.”</p><p>Lucy smirked. “You like them?”</p><p>“A lot,” Wyatt confirmed. “Reckon we could keep them? And maybe the hat?” Lucy laughed silently against his side.</p><p>“You want me to ride you with-” Wyatt cut her off with a kiss, that image far too much to be said out loud. He pulled away and Lucy grinned.</p><p>“Not professional, babydoll.”</p><p>A clearing of a throat had Wyatt’s heart in his mouth. It didn’t entirely descend when he saw that it was Bass watching them and not Rufus. He scooched slightly away from Lucy, feeling the loss of her warmth immediately.</p><p>“You should go to sleep, lass,” he said to Lucy, his gaze steady and dark. Lucy swallowed. Wyatt glanced at her. “I’ll take the watch with your - your fiancé.” Wyatt bit his lip to hide his laughter. Lucy watched Bass with wide eyes and then retreated to go and sleep near Rufus.</p><p>Bass came to join Wyatt on the ground by the tree. “You disrespect her by not giving her a ring,” Bass said without looking at Wyatt.</p><p>“It’s different where we’re from,” Wyatt said quietly. Bass shook his head.</p><p>“It’s not different. You love that woman?” Bass turned his head to regard Wyatt. </p><p>Wyatt opened his mouth and closed it. Bass scoffed with disgust but Wyatt interrupted him roughly, “Love is a big word. I won’t use it until-”</p><p>Wyatt didn’t know what the answer to the end of that sentence was. Until what? The way he felt for Lucy now was all-encompassing. She set him on fire. He would do anything for her. It was - it was - it was different from what he had felt for Jess.</p><p>“You dishonour her,” Bass stated and Wyatt leaned his head against the tree trunk, rolling it to the side so that he didn’t have to look at Bass.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy walked away from him the second they arrived back in the present. She was still shaking. Wyatt stood at the bottom of the staircase, staring after her. He felt Rufus come up behind him and turned to him dumbly. “Come on, Wyatt,” Rufus muttered. Wyatt nodded and continued.</p><p>“What happened?” Agent Christopher demanded. Wyatt and Rufus shared a look.</p><p>“I think we should let Lucy go home,” Wyatt said reluctantly. “We’ll give the report. Let me just go and tell her,” he said, before getting Agent Christopher’s agreement or listening to anybody else’s opinion. He heard Rufus coming after him and Wyatt nearly cursed him. He knew that Rufus cared for Lucy deeply but right now he wanted to hug her and let her scream and cry and kiss her all better.</p><p>The first kill was the hardest.</p><p>“I have to meet Noah, Wyatt,” Lucy said without looking up from her locker. She was topless, only in her bra and trousers. Wyatt swallowed and turned to see Rufus averting his eyes. Wyatt overtly did the same and Lucy turned. “Shit, sorry, Rufus,” she said distractedly as she grabbed her jumper and pulled it over her head.</p><p>“We’ll give the report, Lucy, but-”</p><p>She strode right past him and out of the room. Wyatt bit back a groan and turned to Rufus. “Let’s get this over with.” Wyatt collected up her clothes from the ground where she’d abandoned them and stared at her open locker for a moment. The picture they’d taken with the stack of pancakes was there, having been developed for them in the photo booth and the supermarket. She was laughing.</p><p>“She just needs space, Wyatt,” Rufus said and Wyatt slammed the locker door shut. He nodded once.</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>There was hardly a beat between Lucy knocking and Wyatt opening the door. She gave him a weak smile. “We should get you some keys,” Wyatt said softly. Lucy smiled at the idea. More so than food shopping, that was couple-y.</p><p>She stepped forward and leaned her forehead on his hard chest, his arms immediately wrapping around her. Allowing herself to lean into his protective warmth, her lips twitched upwards at the feel of him kissing her hair. “We should go inside,” Wyatt murmured. Lucy nodded but didn’t move. He started to move them backwards and Lucy giggled at the feeling, going with him until they were far enough into the flat to close the door.</p><p>Wyatt then took her hand and led her over to the sofa, where she immediately collapsed into his lap. Cradling her head against his chest, Wyatt said, “Do you wanna talk about - anything?”</p><p>“Noah was awful,” she confessed. She looked up into his eyes. “I told him that I had somebody else, that I wanted to be with you, that I wasn’t who he thought I was. He cried and then got angry and wanted your name.” Lucy had thought that his reaction was completely fair. She just hadn’t wanted to be the one dealing with it.</p><p>“I can’t imagine what losing you- like that- must feel like.” Lucy smiled, cupping his cheek. She swore then and there that she would never leave him, that he would never know what it would feel like because she would never leave him. What that meant, for her, for him, for their future, was too much for Lucy at that moment. But she knew that it was him, for her. “Lucy, if you want to talk about-” Lucy flinched.</p><p>“I don’t.”</p><p>“Okay,” Wyatt said, brushing his thumb across her lips. “That’s okay. You tell me if you ever change your mind.”</p><p>“What did Bass Reeves say to you?”</p><p>Wyatt chuckled. “That I was dishonouring you, disrespecting you because you weren’t my wife.” Lucy smiled. “And he asked if I loved you.”</p><p>Lucy’s heart skipped a beat. “What did you say?”</p><p>Wyatt met her eyes. “I said that love is a big word.”</p><p>Lucy swallowed. “It is a big word.” Wyatt nodded.</p><p>“I’m glad we agree that we both-” Wyatt cleared his throat - “that we both think that love is a big word.” Lucy giggled. “You want me to make food?” Lucy nodded.</p><p>“Soon. Not yet.” They sat there for a while, Lucy listening to the way that Wyatt’s heart beat and thinking about what love was. Do you love him? That was what Noah had demanded. He said that if it wasn’t love, it wasn’t worth it.</p><p>Lucy looked up and traced her finger along Wyatt’s cheekbones. If it isn’t love, it isn’t worth it. “Wyatt,” she started but then her phone started to ring. She grabbed it and read Mason Industries. She cursed and then Wyatt’s phone started ringing too. Lucy closed her eyes in defeat. “I’ll go into the bedroom.” Wyatt nodded and she clambered off his lap and darted into the bedroom. She glanced at their bed, newly made up with nicer bed sheets and a pillow in the middle. A copy of their pancake picture was on Wyatt’s bedside table in a pretty frame that Lucy had chosen. She blinked and answered the phone.</p><p>Within seconds, she was staring at Wyatt through the door frame, meeting his eyes with hers, his eyes as wide and full of alarm as she was feeling. “I’m on my way,” she said down the phone. </p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt found Rufus crouching against some boxes in the warehouse where he was to meet Agent Christopher. He narrowed his eyes, hoping that Lucy was only moments around him as she had yet to arrive, even though she had set off first.</p><p>“What’s happened?” Wyatt demanded of Rufus, who stood upon seeing him.</p><p>“Anthony is dead,” Rufus said. Wyatt’s shoulders slumped. He patted Rufus on the shoulder, feeling weak and useless.</p><p>“I’m so sorry, Rufus.” Rufus bobbed his head up and down. Agent Christopher emerged from the door.</p><p>“Where’s Lucy?” she asked.</p><p>“Here,” a voice came from the door. Wyatt felt his heart relax upon seeing Lucy there and realising that it was just her slow driving that meant she was later than him, not something more nefarious.</p><p>“Good, come in,” Agent Christopher said. Lucy did, placing herself between Rufus and Wyatt, facing Agent Christopher. Wyatt wanted to hold her hand but held himself back. “I want to discuss Connor Mason.”</p><p>Rufus’ head snapped up. “What about Connor?”</p><p>Agent Christopher gave Rufus a look. “Connor is working with Rittenhouse. We know that.” Rufus’ face didn't change. “I don’t know how long it will be until I’m turfed out of my detail but I am not going to stop fighting these bastards.”</p><p>“We appreciate that, ma’am,” Wyatt said, inclining his head. “What did you want to talk to us about?”</p><p>Agent Christopher pulled two photos out from her inner pockets and unfolded them. “I’ve seen Connor Mason talking with this man. Rufus says that this is the man who threatened his family.”</p><p>Wyatt saw the second Lucy recognised the man and caught her the second she stumbled. He didn’t let go. “What is it?” he asked her in hushed tones, ignoring the looks that Rufus and Agent Christopher were giving him.</p><p>She shook her head, pushing away from him. “That’s my father,” she mumbled and then she left, ignoring Wyatt’s calls after her. Wyatt looked from the door to Agent Christopher and Rufus.</p><p>“Should we-” Agent Christopher shook her head.</p><p>“From what you’ve said, she’s had a difficult enough day, with Jesse James and ending things with her fiancé. I’m sure it will take time for her to process that she’s-”</p><p>“Her father is Rittenhouse,” Wyatt said, glancing at the ground. “What does that mean?”</p><p>Agent Christopher shrugged. “I’m not sure. It probably means that Rittenhouse had something to do with the selection process of bringing you and Lucy in on this mission.”</p><p>“But I’ve not got any Rittenhouse connections,” Wyatt pointed out.</p><p>The homeland security agent gave him a blank look. “You sure about that?”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt jumped at the sound of a knock on his door and pulled Lucy inside the second he saw her, closing the door quickly behind her. “I think I’m being tailed,” she said in a dull voice.</p><p>Shaking his head, Wyatt said, “I wouldn’t be surprised.” Then he took her into his arms and closed his eyes against the sound of her sobs. He stroked her hair and murmured as comforting things as he could but he just felt so useless. He’d been trained to fight but he couldn’t protect Lucy or Rufus.</p><p>“My father is very disappointed that I left Noah,” Lucy said, pulling away and retreating to the couch, tucking her knees up underneath her face.</p><p>“Noah’s Rittenhouse?”</p><p>Lucy shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe he doesn’t know yet. Or maybe my father wanted me to marry a doctor. I don’t know.”</p><p>“Luce-” Lucy shook her head.</p><p>“Could I be capable of that?” she demanded of him, “of being Rittenhouse, of-”</p><p>“No,” Wyatt cut her off, his voice gruff with emotion. “You could never be capable of that.”</p><p>“My father says that our relationship is wrong.” Wyatt screwed his face up. “He says that I should be with someone from Rittenhouse, because I’m Rittenhouse.”</p><p>“Listen to me, Lucy,” Wyatt said, joining her on the sofa and cupping her face in his. “You are not Rittenhouse. Fuck what your father says and fuck what Flynn says. You’re Lucy, our Lucy who cares about people and lectures us about history, my Lucy,” Wyatt said, his voice breaking with the last phrase. “My Lucy who bosses me around, who makes love with me, who is good.” She looked into his eyes and, a moment later, nodded slowly.</p><p>“Okay.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Lost Generation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wyatt straightened his tie, glancing over himself in the mirror. He looked passable for 20s Paris.</p><p>“So, Paris, huh?” Rufus said, joining him in the mirror. Wyatt gave him a glance. He’d been waiting for Lucy, had been faffing with his outfit for an extended period of time so that she would be here, not Rufus. Wyatt and Lucy had been to Matty and Laura’s house that evening and the call from Mason Industries had come only when they’d got into the car to go home. </p><p>“Paris,” Wyatt said with a nod, turning. If Rufus was here, he couldn’t speak privately with Lucy so he may as well be waiting in the Lifeboat.</p><p>“Paris would be a pretty romantic place to tell Lucy that you fancy her.” Wyatt turned back to find a knowing look on Rufus’ face. He rolled his eyes and turned away again. “How do you do it?”</p><p>“What?” Wyatt snapped.</p><p>“How do you risk your life every day knowing that you can’t come back to the woman that you love, for the simple reason that you haven't told her?”</p><p>Wyatt froze. There was that word again, love. Bass Reeves had said it too, though in a more admonishing way than Rufus. He shook his head. It was too much to think about at that moment. “Come on, let’s get in the Lifeboat.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Ernest Hemingway?” Lucy said, her eyes wide as she stared at the reporter. Wyatt eyed her with amusement. A battered copy of The Sun Also Rises was currently sitting on his sofa. The rest of her belongings, mostly still boxed, were on the living room floor. They’d gone to move her things out of Noah’s house the day before when he had promised to be out. Credit to him, he had been.</p><p>“You read my book,” Hemingway said, arrogance evident. Wyatt watched with skeptical eyes.</p><p>“Oh, my God,” Lucy gushed. “I've... I've read all of them.” Wyatt noticed her mistake as Hemingway cocked his head. “I mean, all of the words in your one book, but maybe you will write more.”</p><p>“I doubt it, but still,” Hemingway said, grinning at Lucy, “tell me you love whiskey, and I'll marry you.”</p><p>Wyatt heard the snarl come out of his mouth before he was aware of being angry. Hemingway held up his hand. “I am sorry, my friend. I’m sure that you understand that your - I don’t see a ring so I will presume you are lovers - that your lover is dazzling and how is a man to resist a woman who has read his book?” Wyatt scowled at Hemingway’s smirk. Rufus snorted and walked off beside Hemingway.</p><p>Wyatt wrapped an arm around Lucy’s shoulders and continued walking after them. “What is up with you?” Lucy hissed, shooting a glance at Hemingway. “He could have refused to help us!”</p><p>Wyatt clenched his jaw. “Sorry.” He shook his head. “It’s just that- well, you could write a book called ‘Hit on Through History’. Every time we do one of these things, men just think they have the right to speak to you like that because you’re not wearing a ring and I hate it. It’s just-” Lucy leaned in on him slightly to draw him out of his rant. He looked at her.</p><p>“I hate it too.” Wyatt smiled.</p><p>“I know. I’m sorry.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“If there's anyone who can help us find the folks you're looking for, Josie can,” Hemingway said. Lucy’s neck cricked as she turned to look at Hemingway.</p><p>“Josephine Baker?” she demanded and then she followed Hemingway’s line of sight to the woman singing. She was beautiful, in a short white dress, and it was nicer than Lucy’s black fringe dress, far nicer, but she had the same sort of headband as Lucy. She was glamorous though. She was pure glamour with a voice made of honey or silk or something else that was gloriously smooth.</p><p>She turned to find both Wyatt and Rufus staring at her gormlessly. Lucy cleared her throat, raising her brows at Wyatt who grinned sheepishly at her. She pursed her lips and looked at Rufus. “My mom had a record cover of her that… got me through some lonely nights.” Lucy cringed. Wyatt snorted and glanced at Josephine Baker again.</p><p>“Did you know that she was an undercover spy for the Allies in World War Two?” Wyatt whispered to them. Rufus shook his head, eyes wide.</p><p>“She’s remarkable,” Lucy commented, awe-struck.</p><p>“Come on. I'll introduce you,” Hemingway said, touching Lucy’s arm. Lucy grinned.</p><p>“Okay,” she said, sharing a look with Rufus. Wyatt followed them less excitedly. He was never one for ‘playing the tourist’ on these missions. </p><p>Lucy heard Wyatt stifle a sigh as Josephine said, “Nope, never seen them. Lindy and me, we're both from St. Louis, so if there's any chance he survived, I want to help.”</p><p>“I'm from the Midwest as well, Chicago,” Rufus said. Lucy turned her head to watch him, amused. “Just saying. Practically neighbors.”</p><p>“Mm, Windy City,” Josephine purred. “So tell me, Chicago, how hard do you blow?” Lucy heard Wyatt choke and they both watched Rufus stammer.</p><p>“Uh, su... super, uh, hard... hard.” Josephine and Hemingway disappeared to ask their friends whether they’d seen Flynn, leaving Wyatt, Rufus and Lucy alone.</p><p>“Um,” Rufus said, looking at them as he scratched the back of his neck. Lucy watched him with amused interest. “Do me a favor and don't tell Jiya about… any of this.”</p><p>“Oh, I’m not sure,” Wyatt said, tapping Lucy on the shoulder. “How do you risk your life every day knowing that you have to come back to the woman that you love, knowing that you’re lying to her?” There was a glint in Wyatt’s eye that assured Lucy that there was something going on here that she didn’t understand.</p><p>Rufus scoffed. “You checked her out too and-” Rufus gestured wildly at Lucy. Wyatt turned to Lucy, amused.</p><p>“And what?” Lucy said, feigning confusion. Wyatt smirked at her, shrugging.</p><p>“Not a problem, Rufus.” Rufus scowled at him and turned his eyes to the rest of the room.</p><p>“I was just shocked to see her,” Wyatt mumbled in Lucy’s ear. She tapped his chest and rolled her eyes.</p><p>“She’s very pretty.”</p><p>“She’s no you.” Lucy flicked her eyes to Rufus but he was still distracted. “You look so hot in that outfit.” Lucy eyed Wyatt.</p><p>“Keep it in your pants, sweetheart.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“What are you goggling at?” Josephine asked her, amused. Lucy smiled.</p><p>“Picasso, sitting there with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.”</p><p>“Don't be too awestruck. Picasso's all hands.”</p><p>Lucy tried to contain her chuckle. “Really?”</p><p>“You know, Ernest calls them the Lost Generation, but I think he stole that from Gertrude.”</p><p>Lucy observed them. “Lost Generation. I get it.”</p><p>“Oh? How so?” Josephine said. Lucy gave her half a smile.</p><p>“All seen too much violence. Aimless, confused, don't know what's right or wrong, good or bad.”</p><p>“Sounds like you're not just talking about them,” Josephine said. Lucy glanced at the ground. She wasn’t sure that she was. Everything had gone up in the air since she had discovered that her father was Rittenhouse, that she was Rittenhouse. Suddenly, Rittenhouse seemed to be the bigger villain.</p><p>She shook her head. “I'm, uh… I... I was a teacher. Um, a good one. I loved the research, the facts. I love facts, they're solid. You can trust them. Your personal life might be a mess, but you always have the facts. It's like... standing on concrete.” Wyatt was a fact. Wyatt was her concrete. She wished he was standing beside her, instead of with Rufus. “But then you realize that you're standing on quicksand, and nothing's true.” Nothing but Wyatt. Wyatt wasn’t going anywhere. Everything else was quicksand. Wyatt was her island of concrete. Her lifeboat in a sinking ship.</p><p>“You know, you're wrong about one thing,” Josephine said, her eyes intelligent and interested.</p><p>“What's that?”</p><p>“When Ernest calls them the Lost Generation, he doesn't mean aimless. He means battered… broke down… but getting ready to stand back up. There's a difference.”</p><p>Lucy smiled. “I like that. I like you.”</p><p>Josephine laughed, flattered. “Thank you.”</p><p>When Josephine had wandered away to speak with somebody, Lucy sighed. Battered, broke down but getting ready to stand back up. There was a difference. Josephine was right.</p><p>A clearing of a throat had Lucy spinning, half expecting Flynn or her father. Instead she found her island of concrete. “Didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he said with a smile. Lucy chuckled through her nose, remembering when she had said the same thing to him, after the Alamo mission.</p><p>“I’ll forgive you.”</p><p>“I just want you to know,” Wyatt said with a soft look on his face, “that you- you can rely on me. I’ll be your facts until you can go back to that again.”</p><p>Lucy stepped forward. “And after too?”</p><p>Wyatt took a step towards her. “And after too.”</p><p>“Sorry to interrupt,” the hasty voice of Rufus said, “but Emma’s at the bar.”</p><p>“Fuck,” Wyatt swore.</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Oh, let go!” Lucy said, fighting off the strong grip of Flynn’s man. “Tell him to let me go!” she demanded of Flynn, who sighed.</p><p>“Let her go. She's not a prisoner.” Lucy was released and she brushed her arms, shooting a glare at Flynn’s guy, who held his hands up.</p><p>“Wyatt will not be far behind me,” Lucy told Flynn in a furious tone when she met his eyes. He chuckled.</p><p>“I know. How sweet.” Flynn’s smirk had Lucy’s fury building.</p><p>“You knew, didn't you?” she asked him, seeing her father’s face behind her eyes, hearing his words about Wyatt, about her destiny. “That's why, at the Hindenburg, you told me to ask them about Rittenhouse and ask them why they chose me.” Flynn’s smirk spoke far enough for her. “If you knew who my real father was all along, why didn't you just tell me?”</p><p>“You needed to see with your own eyes who they are and why you're gonna fight them.”</p><p>Lucy tutted, shaking her head. “That's right, because everybody knows my future except me.”</p><p>“I take it your father was not too happy about your relationship with young Wyatt.”</p><p>“Don’t talk about him.” Lucy imagined that he was going insane right about now.</p><p>“So protective,” Flynn cooed, making eyes with his guy, who smirked.</p><p>“Where’s Lindbergh?” Lucy demanded.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt slammed Flynn up against a wall, his hand on his throat. “I’ve been thinking about this since you took her,” he hissed. “You son of a bitch. Do you get off on kidnapping women? Forcing them to work for you?”</p><p>“Wyatt!” Rufus cried. Flynn was smirking.</p><p>“Where is she?” Wyatt growled. “Where is Lucy? Trust me, I can make this a lot more painful for you.”</p><p>Flynn chuckled. “Wyatt, we need to ask questions about Rittenhouse,” Rufus reminded him. With great difficulty, Wyatt released Flynn.</p><p>“Where is she?”</p><p>“Just in there,” Flynn said, nodding to the closed door. Wyatt stepped towards it. “You won’t want to disturb them just yet. They’re still talking.” Wyatt clenched his jaw. The last thing he wanted to do was disrupt Lucy if she had a plan, but, on the other hand, he had no idea what was going on in there. “Instead, let’s talk about Lucy’s father.” Wyatt glanced at Rufus. “You can never have Lucy as long as her father lives. Lucy’s father will never let you have her, not while she is Rittenhouse.”</p><p>Wyatt felt himself flush with anger. “Rittenhouse is going to be taken down. Lucy’s father won’t have any control over me, over her.”</p><p>Flynn smirked. “You agree that they must be taken down then? If only Lucy had listened when we were with Rittenhouse’s son.” </p><p>“You were trying to kill a child,” Wyatt spat in disgust. “She would never let you do that.” Wyatt swallowed and exhaled. “Flynn, when we destroy Rittenhouse, and we will, that - that can’t include Lucy’s father.” Flynn flinched. Wyatt inhaled.</p><p>“If I preserve the Cahills and the Kearns’, Lucy will survive but my family will remain dead. You would trade your love for my wife and child, for thousands of people killed by Rittenhouse?” Flynn chuckled. That word again. Love. It kicked Wyatt in the gut. “Of course you would.”</p><p>Wyatt glanced at the door as it cracked open and Lucy emerged, her eyes red. Wyatt opened his mouth but she shook her head defiantly. Wyatt nodded. It wasn’t the time.</p><p>“Let’s go,” Lucy said.</p><p>“What about Lindbergh?” Rufus said. Lucy cocked her head to the man coming out of the room behind her.</p><p>“I’ve sorted it. I’ll explain on the way back to the Lifeboat. Where’s Flynn?”</p><p>Rufus and Wyatt whirled around to find that Flynn had, indeed, disappeared. “He was just-” Emma appeared in the doorframe.</p><p>“Emma,” Rufus said softly.</p><p>“Rufus,” she said in a controlled manner.</p><p>“Been a long time. Good to see you again.”</p><p>Wyatt’s heart clenched. It was easy to forget how much Rufus had been affected by all of this. It was so easy to get caught up in Lucy and how that affected them. Rufus had lost so many people, had been forced into situations he hated, had had his family threatened.</p><p>“You too, Rufus,” Emma said. Wyatt narrowed his eyes at her. She was still standing in the doorframe.</p><p>“Either you’re coming with us or you’re letting us pass.”</p><p>She let them pass. Hand clasped in Lucy’s, they left the room, walking quickly, but not quickly enough to hear Rufus pause and say, “Be careful. Flynn’s not so good at taking care of his pilots.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Hemingway told us,” Wyatt said as they arrived at the Lifeboat and let Rufus jump up first and get things started. “He told us that, while we’re alive, we should drink and fight and screw for everyone who’s not.” Lucy’s chuckle was so startled and amused that Wyatt grinned.</p><p>“And what do you say to that, Master Sergeant?”</p><p>Wyatt cupped her cheek. “I say that drinking too much is a bad idea and I think that we all fight too much as it is.”</p><p>“Oh, I see where this is going,” Lucy teased. Wyatt grinned.</p><p>“Just wait until I get you home, ma’am.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Public Enemy No. 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy froze as she took in her surroundings. Mason Industries had changed. Jiya was sitting at the computer but nobody else was recognisable. Neither Connor Mason nor Agent Christopher were waiting to greet them. “Oh, no,” Lucy muttered, reaching to take Wyatt’s forearm. “What happened?”</p><p>“We changed history too much,” Rufus breathed in horror. Wyatt shook his head and raced down the staircase.</p><p>“Where's Agent Christopher?” he demanded of Jiya. She opened her mouth but was interrupted by an older man with glasses and a severe expression.</p><p>Lucy and Rufus followed Wyatt more slowly. “Well, Agent Christopher's been reassigned,” he said, “Lucy, Rufus, Master Sergeant Logan, I'm Agent Neville, her replacement. Been studying up on you three.” Lucy did not like the way his eyes lingered on Wyatt. “Welcome back.”</p><p>He led them away to one of the upstairs offices. Lucy watched as Jiya widened her eyes emphatically at Rufus. The three of them sat down at one of the tables. Lucy swallowed a surge of fear. The lack of control was evident. She wished that she were sitting beside Wyatt so that she could hold onto him, her little island of concrete.</p><p>“Were there any casualties?” Agent Neville asked, not looking up from his computer screen.</p><p>“No,” Lucy replied. Agent Neville turned to Rufus, eyebrows raised.</p><p>“I don't think so,” Rufus said.</p><p>“I don't think so, or no?”</p><p>Rufus glanced at Wyatt. “No.”</p><p>The keys on Agent Neville’s computer clacked. “Approximately how many people did you interact with in 1927?” he asked, meeting Lucy’s eyes.</p><p>Lucy swallowed again, panic rising in her chest. “I would say about 15 to 17.” She turned to Wyatt and Rufus. “Right?”</p><p>Agent Neville shook his head. “I'm asking you. Not them.”</p><p>“Uh, that's my answer,” Lucy said.</p><p>Agent Neville’s smile was false. “You're free to go.”</p><p>Rufus glanced at Lucy and Wyatt. “Were we not free to go before you said that?”</p><p>Smiling tightly, their new agent said, “We'll call you when there are more developments.” He cleared his throat. “Master Sergeant, a word.” Lucy froze as she stood, looking at Wyatt. Rufus, already by the door, turned back to look. “I did not ask for either of you, Miss Preston, Mister Carlin. You may leave.”</p><p>He spoke politely but his words were an order. Lucy met Wyatt’s eyes and he nodded reassuringly. Heart beating fast, Lucy followed Rufus out of the room, to the wardrobe dock where they could get changed. Lucy tried to breathe evenly. “It’s gonna be okay, Lucy,” Rufus murmured. Lucy shook her head. What on earth did they want to talk to Wyatt about?</p><p>She changed quickly and found Rufus waiting for her. “You seen Wyatt?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip. Rufus shook his head.</p><p>“Not yet. Do you have a way to contact-” Rufus cut himself off but Lucy knew who he meant.</p><p>“No. I’m sure she’ll contact us if she needs us.”</p><p>They waited ten minutes, until one of Agent Neville’s agents told them that they were free to leave, his face calm and controlled. “Oh, we’re just waiting for Wyatt.”</p><p>“Master Sergeant Logan is in a meeting. You are free to leave.”</p><p>Lucy swallowed, nodding. She grabbed Rufus’ upper arm and dragged him out of the building, suddenly aware that Wyatt had driven them both here and the keys to his car were in his locker. Her worries of where to wait for Wyatt were resolved very quickly, though, when her phone started ringing.</p><p>“It’s Agent Christopher,” she murmured to Rufus when she picked up.</p><p>“Where are you?” she asked.</p><p>“Just leaving Mason. The new agent is meeting with Wyatt.”</p><p>“Firing him,” Agent Christopher informed Lucy, who flinched at the blunt tone. “They’ll want someone they can control and Wyatt is the most replaceable. I’ll get in touch with him soon. You two come and meet me at the same place.”</p><p>Before Lucy could reply, Agent Christopher hung up the phone. Lucy swallowed. “Um-” she looked at Rufus, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear “- can you drive?” He nodded hastily.</p><p>“Come on, let’s go.”</p><p>In the car, Lucy glanced out of the window. It was dark. Everything was changing. Without Wyatt, all of her life was quicksand. She was sinking. She couldn't do these missions without him. “Reckon we could just refuse without Wyatt? It worked the first time.”</p><p>Lucy chuckled. “I don’t think these agents are going to fall for that another time.”</p><p>Rufus laughed nervously. “I trust Wyatt. I don’t trust those people.” Lucy blinked back sudden tears. “Lucy, you know that Wyatt -”</p><p>Lucy cut him off, “Don’t, Rufus. Not right now.” Rufus nodded and turned his eyes back to the road. Lucy didn’t need to know how Wyatt felt about her, not from Rufus’ lips. She knew very well how he felt for her. Love was a big word.</p><p>They reached Agent Christopher rather quickly, though they took a convoluted route to lose any tail that they might have. “Good, you’re here,” she said. “I’ve spoken to Wyatt. He should be here shortly. He didn’t leave long after you.” Lucy knew he would be there in minutes, with his driving.</p><p>“The agents in control of Mason are Rittenhouse,” Agent Christopher told them. Lucy felt her stomach drop out.</p><p>“Jiya is there, right now!” Rufus cried.</p><p>Agent Christopher nodded. “Maybe that's a good thing, somebody working with us on the inside.”</p><p>“A good thing?” Rufus looked up as Wyatt entered. Lucy found her way to him immediately and he folded her into his arms. Rufus glanced away from them back to Agent Christopher. “This is<br/>Rittenhouse we're talking about. They could kill her!” Lucy pulled away from Wyatt to look at Agent Christopher. She was with Rufus on this. Jiya wasn’t a spy or a soldier.</p><p>“Guys, it's okay,” Wyatt said softly. Lucy glared at him.</p><p>“So what, Rufus and I, we're just supposed to go to work like nothing's happening? Without you? Do all of this without you? I can’t do that, Wyatt- I can’t- I feel like I’m sinking-”</p><p>“Yes,” Wyatt cut her off, a blaze in his eyes. “Yeah, it's gonna be okay.”</p><p>“How can you be so calm right now?” Lucy snapped.</p><p>“Because, when those Rittenhouse dicks fired me, I finally got it. I get it now. I am meant to do something. I am meant to protect the both of you. I see that now, and I will.”</p><p>Lucy shared a look with Rufus. “You realize you sound like a crazy person, right?”</p><p>“Mm-hmm,” Rufus agreed, raising his brows. Wyatt smiled, shaking his head.</p><p>“I sound like you,” he told her. Lucy felt her face soften.</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>Rufus cut across their soft look. “But seriously, what are we gonna do about Rittenhouse?”</p><p>“We fight,” Wyatt said strongly. Lucy swallowed.</p><p>“How?”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“I'm sorry. Agent Neville's bedside manner leaves something to be desired.”</p><p>Lucy sucked on her tongue as she turned to find her biological father watching her. “I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're here.”</p><p>He smiled at her. “You have to understand Flynn is out of control. If this one death can save hundreds…”</p><p>“Save Rittenhouse, you mean,” Lucy snapped. “This is the murder of an innocent girl, period.”</p><p>Her father shook his head slowly. “Lucy, Flynn cares nothing about history or collateral damage.”</p><p>“And what's his mother?” Lucy demanded. “What is she?”</p><p>“We need you on this trip,” her father said softly. “You're our chosen historian. You always have been.” Lucy shook her head, feeling her stomach roil. Being Rittenhouse’s chosen historian was not a role that she wanted.</p><p>“Go to hell.”</p><p>“Lucy!” her father’s tone picked up. “I know we're asking the unthinkable. This isn't who you are. You have such a good heart, and I admire that. I'm... I'm proud of you.” Lucy scoffed. He said that as though she wanted his approval. “I only ask that you do this one mission. The next one… will be saving your sister.” Lucy looked up sharply. “I fully intend to honor the deal you've made with Agent Christopher, and I'm in a much better position to do that than she could ever be.”</p><p>Lucy looked down at the floor. Was he right? He was in a better position than Agent Christopher, because he was in an inferior position morally. She hated him, so much; she hated that his blood ran in her veins, hated her mother for ever going near him.</p><p>“That's what you want, isn't it? More than anything?” Her father’s smile became more of a smirk. “Unless there’s something else you want more, something else that is making this so difficult for you.”</p><p>“Shut the hell up.”</p><p>“Your Master Sergeant matters more to you than your sister now? You would give Amy up for him?” Her father shook his head. “You have to know, Lucy, that he was too much of a risk. He’s too much of a hothead.” Lucy closed her eyes. “That’s why he’s all wrong for you, and for this mission.</p><p>“Do this mission and you’ll save your sister and, then, you won’t be alone anymore and you’ll see that your loneliness was the only reason that you wanted Wyatt Logan.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Wyatt struggled to contain his laughter at the sight that greeted him as Lucy and Rufus opened the door to the Lifeboat. Lucy was holding up whatever Rittenhouse dick they’d had replace him, with the heel of her shoe, her face utterly bewildered. Wyatt grinned and strode forward to give her a hand down. When she was on her feet, Wyatt clasped Rufus’ hand and brought him down too. And then they dealt with the other guy.</p><p>“They called him our new tactical commander,” Rufus commented as they carried the soldier to a corner of the warehouse, dart still stuck in his shoulder. “I was going to say that it was always Lucy who commanded us but they didn’t seem like they had the best senses of humour.” Wyatt glanced over at Lucy, who was talking with Agent Christopher, and grinned.</p><p>“Don’t tell her that, her ego doesn’t need the help.” Rufus snorted.</p><p>“I think you’re talking about yourself there, buddy.”</p><p>Wyatt smirked at Rufus and then they returned to Lucy and Agent Christopher. “How was Jiya?” he asked quietly. Rufus gave Wyatt an uneasy look.</p><p>“It was hard to leave her there but I slipped her the burner.”</p><p>“Good.” Wyatt nodded steadily. “You call Jiya. I’ll tell Lucy what the plan is.” He and Rufus shared a grin and split off.</p><p>“Okay, we’ve got the Lifeboat,” Wyatt said more loudly, announcing his proximity to Lucy, who turned to him. “Now let’s go and get Amy back.” Lucy’s eyes widened and a smile spread onto her face.</p><p>“Are you serious?” Wyatt shrugged.</p><p>“Of course. Rufus says the Lifeboat will be charged in four hours. First stop is UC Berkeley.” Lucy and Wyatt had planned exactly how they would get Amy back a while ago, so that, the second they could, they would.</p><p>“I think that’s reckless,” Agent Christopher warned. “Flynn is still out there.”</p><p>Wyatt shared a look with Lucy. “With all due respect, ma'am, we don't work for the government anymore. I think Lucy deserves a shot.” Agent Christopher inclined her head but then alarms started from within the Lifeboat. Wyatt watched the excitement drain from Lucy’s eyes and cursed himself.</p><p>“Rufus!” Wyatt called. “What’s going on?”</p><p>Rufus bobbed his head out of the Lifeboat, where he had gone to call Jiya, and said, “Flynn’s jumped.”</p><p>Wyatt cursed. Lucy’s shoulders slumped. He took her by the shoulders. “I know that we want to get Amy back, but we can’t let Flynn decimate history.” Lucy closed her eyes and Wyatt felt his stomach clench, but then she opened them again and nodded.</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“I promise we’ll get Amy back,” Wyatt said and Lucy gave him a grim smile.</p><p>“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Wyatt.” Wyatt closed his eyes, disappointed in himself. She tapped his shoulder with hers. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out. Let’s go check on Rufus.”</p><p>Rufus was on the phone to Jiya when they approached him. He didn’t notice them. “We need you, okay?” Rufus murmured down the phone. “I - I need you.” He was silent for a moment. Wyatt felt as though they should back away but he didn’t have the time. Rufus said, “You too. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself,” and then turned around to find them there. Hanging up the phone, he gave them a sad smile.</p><p>“She okay?” Lucy asked. Rufus nodded.</p><p>“I think so. She’s gonna run interference as well as she can but Connor already suspects her, because of me.” Wyatt clapped Rufus on the shoulder.</p><p>“We’re gonna protect her, okay? When we get back from stopping Flynn, we’ll get her out of there.” </p><p>Rufus nodded, swallowing obviously. “Okay. Three and a half hours until we can go.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>“Amazingly, from what I can see,” Noah said, looking up, “it looks like there's no serious damage to his internal organs.” Lucy bit her lip.</p><p>“He's gonna be okay?” Noah’s head shot up to glare at her, his eyes flicking to Wyatt again.</p><p>“He was shot, Lucy. I treated him in a warehouse in Oakland without a medical history, blood work. He's... he's stable, but you need to get him to a hospital.”</p><p>“Got it, Doc. Soon as we can,” Wyatt said. Lucy winced as Noah’s eyes filled with fury.</p><p>“As soon as we… I think you got to do better than that, actually,” Noah said before shaking his head. “What the hell is this, Lucy? You end our engagement, tell me you’ve been cheating on me and then call me, desperate for help. Am I supposed to not ask questions? Am I supposed to just stand here while the man who ended our relationship glares at me?”</p><p>Lucy glanced at Wyatt warningly and he shrugged. She tutted and turned back to Noah. “I get that you’re pissed, okay?” Lucy said, holding a hand up. “But you need to go. It’s too dangerous for you to be here.”</p><p>“God, Lucy, what happened to you?”</p><p>Lucy closed her eyes briefly. “This is the real me, okay? The girl that you were engaged to - she was somebody different. I will never be like her. I wish I could explain how or why but I can’t. I will never be that person.”</p><p>Noah shook his head. “This guy,” he said, nodding at Wyatt, whose jaw twitched, “What’s he got that I haven’t? When did you meet him? Is this all because of him?”</p><p>Lucy shook her head, stifling a sigh. “Noah, you deserve to be with somebody who is going to make you happy, but that’s- that’s not me. That’s never going to be me.” Noah chuckled bitterly through his nose.</p><p>“Right, whatever,” he said, turning to go. Lucy swallowed, feeling guilt swirl in her stomach. “You should get him to the hospital, Lucy.” And then he walked out, leaving Lucy glancing at Wyatt and finding him cringing too.</p><p>“That was horrible.”</p><p>“Yep,” Lucy agreed.</p><p>XXX</p><p>The sound of people approaching pulled Lucy from Wyatt’s arms. He asked, “When did you guys get here?” as Agent Christopher and Jiya came into view.</p><p>“Just now,” Agent Christopher said.</p><p>“Were you followed?” Wyatt said, hand on his pistol. Lucy bounced up and down from heel to toe.</p><p>“Wasn't easy getting Jiya out of there, but no, we're all right.” Jiya was already at Rufus’ side, her arm around his shoulders and murmuring to him. Lucy inhaled sharply as the alarm started ringing in the Lifeboat. Wyatt was jumping into the capsule before Lucy’s feet had even started moving.</p><p>“Flynn just jumped to 1954, DC,” he called from inside. Lucy furrowed her brow.</p><p>“1954 DC, that's what Capone was talking about,” she murmured, turning to Agent Christopher and then Rufus and Jiya. “Some Rittenhouse summit.”</p><p>Wyatt sighed. “Flynn figures he'll get all these Rittenhouse dicks in one place, take them out once and for all. He knows without Rufus, we can't chase him.”</p><p>“You sure we shouldn't just let Flynn do it?” Jiya said, looking between them all. Lucy cocked her head to one side, meeting Wyatt’s eyes. </p><p>“Believe me, part of me wants to.”</p><p>“Really?” Wyatt said, his eyes flashing with something. “This is the guy that just tried to have Rufus killed.” Fury, it was fury in his eyes, though Lucy knew it wasn’t aimed at her. “He's rabid. He needs to be put down.” Lucy swallowed.</p><p>“But it doesn't mean that he's wrong.”</p><p>“Okay, well, then, how do we stop them?” Jiya asked, glancing at Rufus.</p><p>Wyatt met her eyes and inhaled, stepping over to Rufus. “Rufus? Are you okay to drive?”</p><p>“Totally,” Rufus said, nodding. Wyatt pulled him up. “Awesome. Room's only spinning a little.”</p><p>“Okay,” Wyatt said, lowering Rufus back to the floor. Lucy bit her lip. Wyatt turned his eyes to Jiya.</p><p>“What about you?” he demanded. “Can you help Rufus? Be his copilot?”</p><p>Rufus’ head snapped up. “What?” he growled at Wyatt.</p><p>Jiya nodded, looking around. “I've logged over 60 hours in the simulator.” Wyatt was nearly smiling. “But I've, like... I've died a lot.”</p><p>“Oh, my God,” Lucy panicked.</p><p>“Forget about it,” Rufus said, glaring into Wyatt’s eyes. “The Lifeboat's only meant to carry three people.”</p><p>“Okay, well, what happens with four?” Wyatt asked.</p><p>Rufus snarled, “Oh, well, let me just check Wikipedia for sending an additional organism through a wormhole.”</p><p>An alarm began to chime. “Got something on the security camera,” Agent Christopher called. Wyatt followed her over. Lucy tried to force her heart to relax, to focus on Wyatt and him being her island of concrete in the quicksand. But, when concrete started panicking too, it was not still enough for Lucy to use to hold herself up.</p><p>“I thought you said you weren't followed,” Wyatt demanded.</p><p>Agent Christopher shook her head. “Those aren't government vehicles. It's Rittenhouse.” She looked at them all. “Get in the Lifeboat. I'll hold them off.” Wyatt nodded once and head over to Rufus, hauling him up again.</p><p>“Rufus, I'm sorry. We got to go.”</p><p>“I'm coming,” Jiya said, helping Rufus with the other arm. Lucy dashed after them, into the Lifeboat.</p><p>“You can't,” Rufus moaned.</p><p>“You can't barely stand, much less fly,” Jiya reminded him, closing the door to the Lifeboat behind her. “We don't have a choice.”</p><p>Wyatt did Lucy’s seatbelt up and cupped her neck in his hand. “It’s gonna be okay, babydoll,” he murmured and Lucy looked into his eyes. Blue, calm, concrete. She nodded and he leaned back to do his own belt.</p><p>XXX</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. The Red Scare</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucy tipped her head back with a sigh. She and Wyatt had been naive to believe that they could get to McCarthy before Flynn and now they were locked up, accused of being communists and separated. Lucy knew Wyatt too well to believe that she would be here for long. He could get himself out of a tied-up chair. Perhaps, when this was over, she would have him teach her to do the same.</p><p>She looked up at the sound of the door opening, hoping for a split second that it was Wyatt. It was not. It was Flynn. Lucy snarled at him. He chuckled and said, “Don't worry. Your Wyatt's fine.” Lucy pursed her lips. “And I take it Rufus has recovered too.” Lucy met his eyes, hated him for shooting Rufus and doing all of this. “I just wanted you to know when I destroy Rittenhouse tonight... and I will… that also includes your grandfather, Ethan Cahill, which means… honestly, I'm not sure what's going to happen to you, but whatever it is, it's probably not good.”</p><p>Lucy shook her head. She had no idea if her father had been born yet, if Ethan Cahill had had Benjamin Cahill yet. If he hadn’t… She wanted to see Wyatt, to tell him that- to tell him that love was a big word but the way she felt for him was big too and she wanted to - </p><p>“Why are you telling me this?” she demanded.</p><p>Flynn shrugged. “I thought you deserved the truth.”</p><p>Lucy narrowed her eyes. “So you told me. What do you want from me? My blessing?”</p><p>“I don't want anything from you.”</p><p>Lucy half-smiled. “You don't want anything from me? Because I think you do. I think deep down there's some part… some human part of you that wants me to stop you.” Something flashed behind Flynn’s eyes. “God, I swear, this game that we keep playing… nobody wins, nobody loses, people keep dying. What's the body count so far? And for what?”</p><p>“Okay, now's the time where you tell me what a monster I am?” Flynn said. Lucy sighed. She could hear, in his voice, that that was what he thought of himself.</p><p>“I don't think you're a monster anymore,” she denied, before adding, “I used to. But now I just think that you're sad, and you're lonely. I think you're a broken person… who misses the people that they love, just like me.”</p><p>Flynn sneered. “Don't talk about my family like you know them.”</p><p>Lucy shook her head at him, feeling calm settle in her chest. “You want to stop Rittenhouse, we'll help you. But not like this.”</p><p>“How?” Flynn snapped, then smirked, a sad bitter thing. “You don't know. Because there is no other way. Good-bye, Lucy.”</p><p>Lucy bowed her head as he left. She’d tried. There was nothing else she could do but pray that her father had already been born and wait for Wyatt to come and get her, and hope that it would be in time for them to stop Flynn. </p><p>It wasn’t too long before Wyatt did come, breaking down the door. “Um, we should go,” he said.</p><p>He looked startled to see her. She smiled at him. “What took you so long?” He rolled his eyes, tutting and heading over to her, untying the rope that had her attached to the chair. “Do I even want to know what happened to Joe McCarthy?” she asked as they fled the room.</p><p>“He’ll be okay in an hour or two,” he told her with a cocky smirk over his shoulder. Lucy grinned at him, her heart racing. Moments later, she found herself pushed up against a wall by Wyatt, hiding her from the soldiers searching for them. “Would it be very out of time for me to kiss you right now?” he murmured.</p><p>Lucy’s eyes flicked up to his. She smirked. “No. But it would probably draw the attention of too many people.”</p><p>Wyatt sighed dramatically. “Shame.” Lucy grinned. “The only problem is now we're gonna have to find a new way to the summit.”</p><p>Lucy nodded hastily and then she said, “I saw Flynn.” Wyatt’s eyes flashed.</p><p>“What did that dick want?”</p><p>“He said that my grandfather was going to be there… Ethan Cahill.” Wyatt’s throat bobbed.</p><p>“What does that mean?”</p><p>“It means that if my father hasn’t been born yet - and if Flynn manages to blow up the summit - then I stop existing.” Wyatt shook his head.</p><p>“That’s not gonna happen. We’ll find a way to stop him.”</p><p>Lucy met his eyes. “My mother told me that she met my grandfather once, that he was a White House aide.” Wyatt cocked his head. “I mean, if he's going to the summit… we could follow him.”</p><p>“Great.” Lucy peered around and found that the soldiers had gone. She gave Wyatt an assuring nod. “Come on then.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>They found a car quickly to follow Lucy’s grandfather. “Rufus is a lot faster at that, by the way,” Lucy commented as Wyatt was trying to hotwire the car. He looked up at her, exasperated. She shrugged. “Just saying.”</p><p>The engine started and Wyatt smirked at her. She rolled her eyes and then her attention was drawn by movement outside the car. “Is that him?” Wyatt asked her. She nodded tightly.</p><p>“Okay, Grandpa, where are you going?” They followed him for quite a while. He was younger than Wyatt had imagined, more human too. He saw all of these Rittenhouse dicks as being evil, like David Rittenhouse, in his head.</p><p>“Flynn say anything else?” Wyatt asked, one hand on the steering wheel. He loved driving these cars. They were so cool.</p><p>Lucy shook her head. “No, not much. Asked me if I thought he was a monster.” Wyatt glanced at her, surprised.</p><p>“What did you say to that?” he asked incredulously. Lucy shrugged.</p><p>“Told him I didn’t think he was.”</p><p>“What?” Wyatt snapped, his eyes wide. “This guy got Rufus shot, kidnapped you, has killed people across time, and you don’t think he’s a monster.”</p><p>Lucy shook her head. “I think he’s just sad.” Wyatt sighed. Lucy was too good for her own good. “I mean, he lost his wife and child. That’s got to do something to you.” Wyatt nodded reluctantly.</p><p>“I guess.”</p><p>“So, I tried to convince him that we would fight Rittenhouse with him, if he did it in a different way, but he called my bluff, I guess, because I don’t have an actual plan for fighting Rittenhouse.”</p><p>Wyatt reached over to squeeze her thigh. “We’re gonna do it, though, Lucy. We’ll find a way.” She smiled at him.</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>They pulled in on a main street and followed Lucy’s grandfather down a set of steps into a bar. Wyatt shared a look with Lucy. Admittedly, neither of them had been expecting this. Wyatt looked around. There were very, very few women in the bar and lots of men in - close - conversation. “Is it just me or is Rittenhouse way more gay than I thought it would be?” he murmured. Lucy’s lips twitched.</p><p>“I don't think this is the Rittenhouse summit,” she said. “I think this might be a gay bar.”</p><p>Wyatt furrowed his brow. “Well then what is your grandpa…” His eyes widened as he realised what she was implying. “Ohh.” Lucy glanced at him and laughed slightly. “So if you exist, that<br/>means Grandpa was, like, way deep in the closet.”</p><p>Lucy nodded. “It's 1954. You'd be arrested for being gay.” Wyatt nodded. He’d forgotten about that backwards piece of legislature. He glanced around the bar. What must it have taken to be so brave as to come to one of these places? If the police found them - Wyatt found a man looking at him, his eyes flicking up and down.</p><p>He swallowed and glanced at Lucy. “He's looking at me like I'm a piece of meat.” Lucy smirked at him.</p><p>“Can't imagine what that's like,” she said. Wyatt snorted through his nose. “That’s how you look at me.”</p><p>Wyatt turned his head to her, mouth agape. “It is not.”</p><p>“Mmhmm, every time I come out of the wardrobe dock.”</p><p>“And what do you call it when you look at me in these suits, babydoll?” Wyatt murmured. Lucy glanced at him with a smirk. Wyatt grinned at her. “Come on, there’s Grandpa.”</p><p>“Excuse me,” Lucy said, approaching her own grandfather at the bar. Wyatt stood by her side. “Are you Ethan? Ethan Cahill?” Ethan shook his head immediately, placing his drink at the bar and standing.</p><p>“No. Sorry. You're mistaken.”</p><p>Lucy stood in front of him to stop him. “No. We're not cops.”</p><p>Ethan glanced at the bar and then at them. “I don't know what you think you saw here, but I have a wife and son to get back to, so…”</p><p>“We know,” Lucy said, her voice soft. “His name is Ben.”</p><p>Ethan’s eyes went wide, moving from Lucy to Wyatt. “How do you know that?” He shook his head. “Okay, how much do you want? I've got about $50.”</p><p>“We don't want any money.” Lucy shared a look with Wyatt. “We need you to take us to the Rittenhouse summit.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Rufus shook his head impatiently. Lucy bit her lip, watching her grandfather stare at the Lifeboat. “Look. We got to get Jiya back home. Now,” Rufus demanded.</p><p>Lucy nodded, glancing at Jiya. “Okay, you guys go ahead. Get Jiya back. I have to stay here.”</p><p>Lucy watched Wyatt’s eyes widen, felt her heart beat faster. “What are you talking about? What do you mean?”</p><p>“I'll go with Flynn in the Mothership. I need Ethan to see this thing in action,” she said, wincing as Wyatt’s face grew pale.</p><p>“Lucy, no. No way.” He shook his head, stepping forward to take her face in his hands, uncaring of the onlookers. “Look. We already lost you once. I can not lose you again.” Lucy covered his hand with hers.</p><p>“You've trusted me this long,” she said softly. “I just need you to do it a little longer, okay? Get Jiya back.”</p><p>“You can’t-” Wyatt exhaled deeply and then turned to Flynn. “If you hurt her…”</p><p>“What? You'll try and kill me again?” Flynn said casually. Wyatt went red. He turned back to her.</p><p>“Be careful,” he warned. Lucy nodded.</p><p>“Wyatt,” she said before he joined Jiya and Rufus in the Lifeboat. He turned to her, eyebrows creased. “It’s a big word.”</p><p>Lucy swallowed as his lips parted and he nodded, giving her half a smile. “Big word, babydoll,” and then he got into the Lifeboat and Lucy turned to Flynn, praying that her bargain paid off.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy watched her grandfather for a second, a smile playing at her lips. Wyatt pressed his hand to the small of her back and she bit her lip before heading forward. “Hi, Ethan. Remember us?” Lucy crouched down beside him and Wyatt watched, following her slowly and standing behind her.</p><p>“Lucy?” Ethan said. It was incredible to see him now, aged, when, just hours ago, they had been standing before him, as young as they were. “I didn't think you'd come,” he croaked. Lucy smiled. “I'd almost given up.”</p><p>“Sorry it took us so long,” Lucy apologised, taking his hand.</p><p>Ethan shook his head. “Oh... oh, this is incredible. You look exactly the same.” Ethan looked up at Wyatt. “Both of you. The '60s rolled by, the '70s… sometimes I wondered if I had dreamt it all. You... you have no idea… how often I considered running.”</p><p>“So, what stopped you?” Wyatt asked.</p><p>Ethan laughed, an old man’s raspy laugh. “Well, the day my son told me that he'd fathered a child. A little girl named Lucy.” Lucy looked up at Wyatt and he saw that her eyes were shining.</p><p>“It must have been so hard,” she said. He could hear that her voice was thick. “I'm sorry.” Her voice shook.</p><p>Ethan looked from Lucy to Wyatt. “You want to know if I did what you asked me to do?” Lucy smiled, nodding almost imperceptibly. “Uh, son, can you pick up that clock over there?” Wyatt hadn’t been called son in a very long time.</p><p>“Yeah,” Wyatt said, heading over to pick it up and pass it to Lucy’s grandfather, who grunted at receiving it. Lucy had pulled herself up to sit on the chair opposite her grandfather. Wyatt perched beside her. Ethan turned the clock face and took out a piece of paper, passed it to Lucy.</p><p>“That's all?” Lucy questioned. Wyatt’s eyes flicked from Lucy to Ethan.</p><p>“Open it.” Lucy did. Wyatt furrowed his brow. It was an address. Ethan smiled. “I’m sure you know what you’ll find there. You should go now, get them while you can.”</p><p>Wyatt sighed and stood. Lucy reached forward to take her grandfather’s hand. “Thank you,” she said softly.</p><p>Ethan shook his head. “Don’t thank me, Lucy. Thank you.” Ethan looked up to Wyatt. “You just take good care of my granddaughter, won’t you?” Wyatt smiled.</p><p>“I will, sir.”</p><p>“And, maybe, one day, you could make an honest woman out of her.” Lucy covered her lips with the tips of her fingers and Wyatt grinned at her.</p><p>“We’ll see,” Wyatt said with a smile at Ethan, who winked at him.</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy left her conversation with Agent Christopher, buoyed by the idea of getting her sister back though rather upset by what had happened to Flynn. Her journal - Flynn’s journal - burned in her pocket. She found Wyatt waiting for her outside, leaning on the railings and looking at the Lifeboat.</p><p>“So,” she said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. He smiled at her.</p><p>“So, it’s over.”</p><p>“Agent Christopher says we can go and get Amy back, if you’ll come with me.” Wyatt grinned.</p><p>“You think I’d miss that, babydoll?”</p><p>“No, I thought you’d want to come,” Lucy said, ducking her head and biting her lip. She looked back up and met his eyes. “What does this mean for us, Wyatt?”</p><p>Wyatt’s brow creased. “What do you mean?”</p><p>“I mean, do you just go back to Pendleton and… take up another mission?” Wyatt sighed.</p><p>“That is how it works.” Lucy nodded, her stomach clenching. “Of course, that can wait for a while.”</p><p>“It can?”</p><p>Wyatt laughed. “Lucy, do you think that this is over because we’ve got rid of Flynn? I have been fighting to get rid of that bastard - and Rittenhouse - so that we can be together and in peace, so that we can kiss in front of our friends.” Lucy laughed. “My next mission isn’t at Pendleton. It’s here, with you.”</p><p>“What’s that, then?” Lucy asked.</p><p>“Protecting us while we tell Rufus how long this has been going on for.”</p><p>Lucy laughed. “And then what? I go back to Stanford, you go back to Pendleton.” Wyatt shook his head.</p><p>“I think I can come up with some other possibilities. I’m not ready to say goodbye to this yet.”</p><p>Lucy smiled. “Yeah? We can still be-”</p><p>“We’ll always be Lucy and Wyatt, babydoll.”</p><p>“Okay.” Lucy stepped forward to close the gap between them. He grinned down at her and Lucy leaned in to kiss him, just as Connor Mason walked past, holding a tablet and said, “Ah, the Lifeboat will be charged and ready to go in two hours, my friends,” before disappearing down the other end of the corridor.</p><p>Lucy met eyes with Wyatt and couldn’t contain her laughter. He brushed her cheekbone with his thumb. “I think I should go and talk to my mom, before I do this.” Wyatt nodded seriously.</p><p>“Do you want me to come with you?” Lucy remembered her mother’s reaction to Lucy’s potential cheating and shook her head.</p><p>“Probably not a good idea.”</p><p>“Fair enough,” Wyatt said, laughing. “I’ll go check on Rufus. See how Jiya’s-”</p><p>Before Wyatt could finish his plans, familiar alarms began to sound. “What the hell?” Lucy demanded. Agent Christopher appeared. “I thought Flynn was in prison!”</p><p>“He is,” Agent Christopher snapped. The three of them made their way down to the Lifeboat. Rufus appeared, eyes narrowed.</p><p>“The Mothership has jumped to 1979, Berkeley.” Lucy froze and met Wyatt’s eyes.</p><p>“What the hell?” Agent Christopher demanded.</p><p>Wyatt stammered, “That’s - Lucy, that was where we were going to go to-”</p><p>“Yep,” Lucy snapped. That was where she was going to go. Lucy swore. “Right we have to follow them, right?”</p><p>“Who is them?” Rufus asked. “Flynn is in prison. Rittenhouse is gone.”</p><p>Agent Christopher shook her head. “Not all of Rittenhouse is gone.”</p><p>“So, what? We have to keep chasing these dicks through time?” Wyatt demanded. Agent Christopher shrugged.</p><p>“Looks like it. You have two hours until the Lifeboat is charged. You should go and get changed and get something to eat.”</p><p>XXX</p><p>Lucy’s head fell forward and then back again as they arrived back in the present, having jumped to 1979, seen Carol Preston and Henry Wallace meet without any intervention on their parts and then returned to the Lifeboat, found that the Mothership was already in the present, and returned home themselves.</p><p>“What happened?” Agent Christopher asked as Wyatt stepped out of the Lifeboat. Wyatt shook his head.</p><p>“Nothing. Carol and Henry didn’t need our help. They met anyway.”</p><p>Agent Christopher furrowed her brow. “Carol and Henry?”</p><p>Wyatt met Lucy’s eyes as she stood and made her way down the steps beside him. “Agent Christopher, does Lucy have any siblings?”</p><p>Agent Christopher gave Wyatt a strange look. “Yes, she has a sister. Amy.” Lucy felt herself stumble backwards. She grabbed the railing of the staircase to steady herself. “What is going on?” Agent Christopher demanded.</p><p>Wyatt glanced at Lucy. “Rittenhouse has just given Lucy her sister back.”</p><p>They filled Agent Christopher in as the four of them made their way to the computer. “Why would Rittenhouse do that? Lucy’s father has been arrested.”</p><p>Lucy nodded dumbly. “Why would anybody else care whether I had Amy or not?”</p><p>The alarms sounded again. Lucy’s shoulders slumped. “No,” Wyatt snapped. “Not again. Not now.” Rufus shook his head, moving the mouse on the computer.</p><p>“They haven’t - the Mothership hasn’t jumped to the past. It’s here - the Mothership has jumped here.”</p><p>Wyatt had his gun out before Lucy had even finished hearing what Rufus was saying. The four of them were silent. Connor Mason stormed out from above. “Why are we locked out of the bay, Rufus?” he demanded, running down to join them, tablet in hand. “How is the Mothership here?”</p><p>“They’ve locked themselves in there,” Rufus continued. “They’ve jumped into the second bay, where we used to store the Lifeboat, and locked it. We can’t get in - what is that music?” Lucy hadn’t heard it until Rufus had mentioned it. She squinted her eyes, as though that would ameliorate her hearing. And then her eyes widened as she recognised it. “Is this Shania Twain?”</p><p>“You’re Still the One?” Wyatt asked, his voice half-amused as he glanced at Lucy. Rufus nodded.</p><p>“Where is it coming from?” Mason demanded. Rufus was messing with something on the computer. Lucy had no idea what he was doing until he leaned back and she saw that the screen had gone black. The screen on every computer in the room had gone black.</p><p>Agent Christopher’s eyes were wide and concerned. “What is going on? Are we being hacked?”</p><p>“What in the world...” Mason trailed off but Lucy followed his eyeline back to the computer. The black screen had been replaced by a photograph, a dark and grainy photograph, with a date running along the bottom. “That was the day the Mothership was stolen.”</p><p>Lucy’s stomach roiled. She’d known that before he’d said it, because the picture was her, on Wyatt’s lap, in his car, outside her house, having sex for the first time.</p><p>“Get rid of it,” Wyatt hissed at Rufus, whose eyes were wide and confused.</p><p>“I don’t understand,” Agent Christopher said to Rufus. “Who is that?” Lucy’s heart beat faster. The photo was unrecognisable, unless you know. And she knew. Wyatt’s eyes were ablaze with anger. He knew too. The music was still playing, but louder now.</p><p>Rufus clicked wildly, his fingers pressing keys hastily on the keyboard, and the picture changed. This time it was Lucy, bending down as she spoke into Wyatt’s car window, the night of her engagement party, the night that he had dropped her off and she had come out to him, crying that her mom was better and she was engaged. This photo was grainy, too, but it was clearer. The light had been on in Wyatt’s car. His face was illuminated. And Lucy was sure that they could recognise her too, even though they couldn’t see her face.</p><p>The pictures didn’t need clicking to move on. They kept running, showing the five of them, on every screen in the room, Lucy and Wyatt’s relationship. The next one was Lucy and Wyatt at the bar, after the Vegas mission, and then they were kissing in Wyatt’s doorframe, before he went out to get Flynn, before the Germany mission.</p><p>“Fuck,” Lucy whimpered. She couldn’t take her eyes off it, not even to look at Wyatt, though she could feel heat radiating off his anger next to her.</p><p>“Is this real?” Rufus demanded, staring at the screen in horror.</p><p>Wyatt on the screen with his arm wrapped around Lucy’s shoulders as they left after the Alamo mission. That was inside Mason. There were cameras inside Mason Industries. Lucy shook her head. Of course there were.</p><p>“How the hell are they doing this?” Wyatt asked, looking around, his gun raised, his features tight. Then the music faded slightly, voices over the top of it. Lucy recognised them immediately, turning her eyes back to the screen. It was a video. It was outside of Mason Industries.<br/>“Make it stop!” Wyatt growled at Rufus. He held up his hands and Lucy knew that he was trying but she didn’t want to hear this, didn’t want to see the anger on Wyatt’s face, the sadness and regret on her own.</p><p>“Wyatt!” her voice on the computer cried. She watched Rufus’ eyes turn back to the screen too and cringed. Wyatt on the video turned around. “Wyatt, I’m sorry. I should have-”</p><p>“You should have told me.” Wyatt’s snarl hit her harder now than it had then. She flinched. Wyatt was watching himself in horror as he shouted at her. He stepped closer to her, now.</p><p>“It doesn’t mean anything, Lucy. We don’t mean anything.”</p><p>Lucy felt tears come to her eyes as she said, on the video, “What the hell does that mean?”</p><p>“Make it stop, Rufus. Make it stop,” she begged him.</p><p>“I’m trying!” he told her.</p><p>“If there’s no trust, Lucy, then it was just sex,” Video Wyatt snapped. Lucy let out a dry sob and she felt Wyatt touch her arm. She flinched.</p><p>The video faded away and Shania Twain’s crooning voice returned. “I don’t understand,” Rufus snapped as he continued to play with the keyboard. “I don’t understand.” More photos came onto the screen. “How are they doing this? Who is doing this?”</p><p>Heading into Wyatt’s apartment together after the mission where they were nearly stranded in 1754. Lucy in Wyatt’s arms in the locker room after Bonnie and Clyde, Lucy’s hands under his shirt. And then they were at the furniture store together, kissing over a trolley. Lucy had a list in her hand and Wyatt was looking at her, with a soft look on his face.</p><p>“What am I looking at here?” Agent Christopher asked. “What is this?”</p><p>Lucy swallowed. In all the scenarios she had imagined in which her friends discovered her relationship with Wyatt, this had not been one. The music changed and Lucy knew what she was going to see before she saw it.</p><p>She was washing dishes in Wyatt’s apartment. It was his video of her, singing this song. She turned and grinned at him, laughing, and stole his phone. Rufus looked back at them as Lucy’s laugh sounded from the screen.</p><p>They were grinning in the mirror, Lucy’s legs wrapped around Wyatt’s waist. Lucy laughed through her tears. He was looking up at her and she was making a silly face. Then they were at the store, on Amy’s birthday, running into Matty and Laura, kissing in front of the store.</p><p>And then the pancake photo. Lucy blinked. If Amy existed in this timeline, that photo shouldn’t exist. She pulled it out from her bra, creased from her various methods of storing it on each mission. She showed it to Wyatt. “How do they have this?”</p><p>“You care more about that, than this?” Rufus demanded, pointing at the image on the screen, again, of them shagging in Wyatt’s car the first day they had met. Lucy cringed.</p><p>“We took this on Amy’s birthday,” she said emphatically, meeting Wyatt’s eyes. She was distracted by the next image on the screen, a video, of her and Wyatt, on his sofa. They were covered by a blanket but Lucy knew that she was naked. It was after Lucy had been kidnapped, when she’d not wanted to let Wyatt go.</p><p>“That’s in our apartment,” Lucy mumbled. Wyatt’s wide eyes showed that he already knew, he already understood what that meant. They - Rittenhouse - had eyes on the interior of Wyatt’s apartment. How? How?</p><p>Screen Lucy squeaked. Lucy saw that screen Wyatt had squeezed her ass. “What was Rufus talking to you about, before? It seemed quite intense. Did you have a bros talk when you thought you were going to die?” Screen Lucy asked. Rufus turned to look at them.</p><p>“God, Rufus,” Wyatt snapped, “Can’t you make it stop?”</p><p>“Bros talk?” Screen Wyatt asked and then Lucy was making big muscles, pretending she was Wyatt and the blanket was slipping and-</p><p>“Rufus!” Wyatt ordered as Lucy’s breasts became visible. Lucy’s jaw dropped in horror. “Make it stop, goddamnit!”</p><p>“I can’t,” Rufus roared. “I can’t so you two are going to have to live through this, through letting us see your - your what, Wyatt? Your girlfriend naked?” Lucy blinked back sad tears.</p><p>“You can’t possibly talk about James Bond more than you talk about it with me,” Screen Lucy groused and then there was the sound of Wyatt slapping her ass and Lucy cringed, meeting Wyatt’s eyes. This was them. This was personal. And somebody had seen it all. The scene faded away and the song was coming to its end.</p><p>Lucy’s chest was racing. Her breathing was coming fast. Rufus, Agent Christopher and Mason were all still working on getting into the bay, the bay where Rittenhouse were, on stopping the screen but Lucy couldn’t cope with any of it.</p><p>Rittenhouse had seen into Wyatt’s apartment, had seen all of their most personal times together. God, she had been so happy. It all felt poisoned now, all felt viewed. She cringed further. Could they only see the living room? The scenes on the screen had so far only been the living room. Even so, how often must they have seen her shagging Wyatt? Seen her naked?</p><p>A dry sob escaped Lucy’s mouth. She felt Wyatt tighten his arms around her and she buried her face into his chest. “It’s gonna be okay,” he murmured to her softly.</p><p>The song stopped suddenly. Silence filled the room. The screen stopped, on the picture, on the first picture, of Lucy in the car with Wyatt. “Since the first time we met?” Rufus asked, his voice hoarse. Lucy blinked back her tears.</p><p>“Rufus,” Wyatt sighed but then there was a sound, a bigger sound, of the large door, the shutters to the loading bay opening. Wyatt’s hand was on his gun again as three figures stepped out of the loading bay.</p><p>Lucy recognised all three.</p><p>“Like our show, Lucy, Wyatt?” Emma demanded.</p><p>“Emma,” Connor sighed, closing his eyes. “I should have known. How long have you been Rittenhouse?”</p><p>Emma smirked and said something. Emma wasn’t listening. She was too busy concentrating on what else was before her: her mother and Amy.</p><p>XXX</p><p>The second Lucy gasped, “Amy,” a sob half-emerging from her mouth, Wyatt was moving. He shot, hitting close enough to Emma to distract her as he jumped the railings and found Amy. He recognised her, now closer, from the picture in Lucy’s locket. Before he could reach her, though, he felt a heeled shoe bury itself in his stomach. He fell down.</p><p>“You think this is good enough, Lucy?” the older woman sneered at him. Wyatt had recognised her, along with Lucy, immediately as Carol Preston. “You really think we would let you stay with a soldier who never even went to college?”</p><p>“Who’s we, Mom?” Lucy asked, her voice panicky. She was closer than she had been, all four of them were. Wyatt tried to fight Carol’s grip on him, tried to reach the knife in his boot, the gun trapped beneath him.</p><p>“Rittenhouse,” Carol Preston hissed. Wyatt heard Lucy’s misery, heard her gasping sob as this last piece of her family’s betrayal fell into place. Well, Lucy wouldn’t lose all of her family today. Her father in prison, her mother revealed as Rittenhouse. She would have her sister back. “We let this go on for long enough, Lucy. Making sure that your Homeland Security friends didn’t find out about your relationship, replacing your tailing agents with Rittenhouse agents so nothing got back. Until today, until they heard you call your soldier’s apartment ‘ours’, they thought you lived with me.”</p><p>Wyatt’s heart was racing. He glanced up at Amy. She was attached to Carol by a rope. She must have tried to escape.</p><p>“You really think that this man is better for you than Noah?” Carol said, pressing her heel further into him. Wyatt grunted. “His first wife cheated on him. His father beat him. Everyone who has ever loved him has hated him eventually.”</p><p>“Shut the hell up,” Lucy snapped. “He’s a better man than you can ever understand.”</p><p>Carol chuckled. “And you love him? Or is love too much of a big word?”</p><p>Lucy let out a whimper. Wyatt felt it hit him in the chest. They’d been listening. All along, to all of their stupid conversations, all of that wonderful happiness, Rittenhouse had heard. Well, for no longer.</p><p>It was a blur. He used Carol’s own momentum against her, the next time she used her sharp heel to grind down on his chest. He shoved her off of him, uncaring when she hit the floor and yanked Amy’s rope hard enough to chafe Carol’s wrist it was attached to. Pulling the knife from his boot, he detached Amy and grabbed her around the waist, sprinting to join the others.</p><p>Only when he reached them did he understand why Carol had hardly fought back, why Emma had not stopped him.</p><p>They had bundled Lucy up and taken her into the Mothership.</p><p>Wyatt realised all of this, just as it started to spin and disappeared. He fell to his knees, his heart falling onto the ground beside him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay so this was a bit insane</p><p>I started planning this fic like 10 days ago maybe? And then just wrote and wrote and now it's done?</p><p>As you might be able to guess, there is going to be a sequel. There's going to be a bit of a bridging fic called "Emotionally Tortured" featuring Wyatt and co in the Bunker and Lucy with her mom and Emma. I'm really excited to write Wyatt and Amy becoming friends! I'm planning on it having six chapters, one for each week of their separation, and they probably will be quite short.</p><p>Then I'm going to write "Emotionally Compromised" which will run through Season Two with some pretty big changes, especially in regards to Jessica and Flynn. It will probably diverge a bit more than this one did, but I only have two chapters completely planned as of yet. The chapters are looking like they'll be a bit longer too, but we'll have to see.</p><p>So, yes, I need to plan the rest of that (which includes having to rewatch season two and somehow cope with Jessica and Wyatt being together). I had a really bad June in terms of writing, so I'm hoping to be able to write more consistently this month. I have to update my Braime, Hinny and Captain Swan fics but I should finish Sunburst and my back in time Braime fics this week, which will cut down on time needed for those, so I should be able to get back into Wyatt writing momentum very soon (hopefully by the end of July).</p><p>I have loads of plans for writing one shots, too, so I really want to finish off some of my current nine WIPs and focus on writing shorter pieces. If you have any Lyatt one shot requests, shoot them my way! I am super happy to write requests.</p><p>Thank you all so much for your support! I know that this is a small fandom but it's such an inclusive one and it makes every review and kudos all the sweeter.</p>
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